Which to use
“formaban” is a verb and “formada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,157
- “formaban” frequency rank
- #6,063
- “formada” frequency rank
- 18220
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | formaban | formada |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de formar o de formarse. | Forma del femenino de formado, participio de formar o de formarse. |
Where the eye mixes formaban and formada
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: formaban vs formada
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: formaban is [foɾˈmaβ̞ãn] while formada is [foɾˈmað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18220, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
formaban is recorded at frequency rank #12,157, classified as averb, pronounced [foɾˈmaβ̞ãn]. formada is at rank #6,063, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [foɾˈmað̞a].
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 18220, this pair ranks #268,832 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of formaban vs formada
Shared letters: afmor. Private to "formaban": bn. Private to "formada": d.
"formaban" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "formada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "formaban" for "formada" ever safe?
Which is more common, "formaban" or "formada"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "formaban" and "formada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "formaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "formada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #268,832 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "formaban" and "formada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "formaban vs formaran". 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 #268,832 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.