encantanvsengañanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“encantan” and “engañan” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,501
“encantan” frequency rank
#17,685
“engañan” frequency rank
23186
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encantan engañan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de encantar o de encantarse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de engañar.

Where the eye mixes encantan and engañan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. encantan runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against engañan's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
encantan
7 ch
engañan

Look-alike desk: encantan vs engañan

A purely visual mix-up. encantan ([ẽŋˈkãn̪t̪ãn]) and engañan ([ẽŋˈgaɲãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23186, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encantan is recorded at frequency rank #5,501, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽŋˈkãn̪t̪ãn]. engañan is at rank #17,685, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽŋˈgaɲãn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 23186, this pair ranks #246,974 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of encantan vs engañan

Shared letters: aen. Private to "encantan": ct. Private to "engañan": .

"encantan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "engañan" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • encantanecnantan · enacntan · encanatn · encanntan · encantann · encantna · encanttan · encatnan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "encantan" for "engañan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ẽŋˈkãn̪t̪ãn] versus [ẽŋˈgaɲãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "encantan" or "engañan"?
"encantan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,501 in our Spanish list, against #17,685 for "engañan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "encantan" and "engañan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "encantan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "engañan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #246,974 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encantan" and "engañan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enanas vs engañan". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #246,974 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list