Which to use
“encontraban” is a verb and “encontradas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,720
- “encontraban” frequency rank
- #13,235
- “encontradas” frequency rank
- 18955
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | encontraban | encontradas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de encontrar o de encontrarse. | Forma del femenino plural de encontrado, participio de encontrar o de encontrarse. |
Where the eye mixes encontraban and encontradas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. encontraban and encontradas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: encontraban vs encontradas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: encontraban is [ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾaβ̞ãn] while encontradas is [ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾað̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
encontraban is recorded at frequency rank #5,720, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾaβ̞ãn]. encontradas is at rank #13,235, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾað̞as].
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 18955, this pair ranks #265,774 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of encontraban vs encontradas
Shared letters: acenort. Private to "encontraban": b. Private to "encontradas": ds.
"encontraban" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCCVCVC · "encontradas" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- encontraban ← ecnontraban · enccontraban · encnotraban · enconntraban · enconrtaban · encontarban · encontraabn · encontrabann
- encontradas ← ecnontradas · enccontradas · encnotradas · enconntradas · enconrtadas · encontardas · encontraads · encontradass
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "encontraban" and "encontradas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "encontraban" vs "encontradas" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "encontraban" and "encontradas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "encontraban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "encontradas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,774 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "encontraban" and "encontradas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encontradas vs encontrás". 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 #265,774 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.