gastenvsgustanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#39,774
“gasten” frequency rank
#1,547
“gustan” frequency rank
41321
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gasten gustan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de gastar o de gastarse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de gustar.

Where the eye mixes gasten and gustan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gasten and gustan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
gasten
6 ch
gustan

Why the eye confuses gasten with gustan

A purely visual mix-up. gasten ([ˈgast̪ẽn]) and gustan ([ˈgust̪ãn]) 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 41321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gasten is recorded at frequency rank #39,774, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈgast̪ẽn]. gustan is at rank #1,547, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈgust̪ãn].

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 41321, this pair ranks #154,288 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gasten vs gustan

Shared letters: agnst. Private to "gasten": e. Private to "gustan": u.

"gasten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "gustan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gasten ← agsten · gasetn · gassten · gastenn · gastne · gastten · gatsen · ggasten
  • gustan ← ggustan · gsutan · gusatn · gusstan · gustann · gustna · gusttan · gutsan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gasten" and "gustan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈgast̪ẽn] versus [ˈgust̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gasten" vs "gustan" - which ranks higher?
"gustan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,547 in our Spanish list, against #39,774 for "gasten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gasten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gustan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #154,288 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gasten" and "gustan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gasteiz vs gasten". 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 #154,288 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