granvsguanWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gran is a adjective, guan is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gran” is an adjective and “guan” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#108
“gran” frequency rank
#49,044
“guan” frequency rank
49152
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gran guan
Definition Apócope de grande. (Cracidae) Aves gallináceas del Nuevo Mundo de los géneros Aburria, Chamaepetes, Oreophasis, Penelope, Penelopina y Pipile, de la subfamilia Penelopinae. Sobre todo la Penelope purpurascens.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gran and guan apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
gran
4 ch
guan

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gran is [ˈgɾãn] while guan is [ˈgwãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “gran” becomes u in “guan”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gran is recorded at frequency rank #108, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈgɾãn]. guan is at rank #49,044, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈgwãn].

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 49152, this pair ranks #110,438 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gran vs guan

Shared letters: agn. Private to "gran": r. Private to "guan": u.

"gran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "guan" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grangarn · ggran · grann · grna · grran · rgan
  • guangaun · gguan · guann · guna · ugan

Frequency comparison

gran#108
guan#49,044

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gran" and "guan" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gran" is an adjective and "guan" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gran" or "guan"?
"gran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #108 in our Spanish list, against #49,044 for "guan". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering gran vs guan

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “gran”; for a noun, it's “guan”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gran” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list