extrañanvsextrañarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,041
“extrañan” frequency rank
#8,382
“extrañar” frequency rank
44423
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature extrañan extrañar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de extrañar o de extrañarse. Apartar, privar a alguno del trato y comunicación que se tenía con él.

Where the eye mixes extrañan and extrañar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. extrañan and extrañar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
extrañan
8 ch
extrañar

Look-alike desk: extrañan vs extrañar

A purely visual mix-up. extrañan ([eksˈt̪ɾaɲãn]) and extrañar ([ekst̪ɾaˈɲaɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “extrañan” becomes r in “extrañar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

extrañan is recorded at frequency rank #36,041, classified as averb, pronounced [eksˈt̪ɾaɲãn]. extrañar is at rank #8,382, tagged as averb, pronounced [ekst̪ɾaˈɲaɾ].

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 44423, this pair ranks #137,150 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of extrañan vs extrañar

Shared letters: aertxñ. Private to "extrañan": n. Private to "extrañar": -.

"extrañan" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "extrañar" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "extrañan" for "extrañar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([eksˈt̪ɾaɲãn] versus [ekst̪ɾaˈɲaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "extrañan" vs "extrañar" - which ranks higher?
"extrañar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,382 in our Spanish list, against #36,041 for "extrañan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "extrañan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extrañar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #137,150 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "extrañan" and "extrañar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estrenan vs extrañan". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #137,150 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