funcionabavsfuncionaráWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,583
“funcionaba” frequency rank
#16,863
“funcionará” frequency rank
28446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature funcionaba funcionará
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de funcionar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de funcionar.

Where the eye mixes funcionaba and funcionará

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
funcionaba
10 ch
funcionará

Why the eye confuses funcionaba with funcionará

A purely visual mix-up. funcionaba ([fũnsjoˈnaβ̞a]) and funcionará ([fũnsjonaˈɾa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

funcionaba is recorded at frequency rank #11,583, classified as averb, pronounced [fũnsjoˈnaβ̞a]. funcionará is at rank #16,863, tagged as averb, pronounced [fũnsjonaˈɾa].

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 28446, this pair ranks #222,001 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of funcionaba vs funcionará

Shared letters: acfinou. Private to "funcionaba": b. Private to "funcionará": .

"funcionaba" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCV  ·  "funcionará" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • funcionabaffuncionaba · fnucionaba · fucnionaba · funccionaba · funcinoaba · funcioanba · funcionaab · funcionabba

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "funcionaba" for "funcionará" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fũnsjoˈnaβ̞a] versus [fũnsjonaˈɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "funcionaba" or "funcionará" show up more?
"funcionaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,583 in our Spanish list, against #16,863 for "funcionará". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "funcionaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "funcionará" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #222,001 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "funcionaba" and "funcionará" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "funcionará vs funcionarán". 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 #222,001 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