gustanvsgustandoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,547
“gustan” frequency rank
#18,557
“gustando” frequency rank
20104
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gustan gustando
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de gustar. Gerundio de gustar.

Where the eye mixes gustan and gustando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gustan runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against gustando's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gustan
8 ch
gustando

Why the eye confuses gustan with gustando

A purely visual mix-up. gustan ([ˈgust̪ãn]) and gustando ([gusˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “gustan” sits inside “gustando”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gustan is recorded at frequency rank #1,547, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈgust̪ãn]. gustando is at rank #18,557, tagged as averb, pronounced [gusˈt̪ãn̪d̪o].

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 20104, this pair ranks #260,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gustan vs gustando

Shared letters: agnstu. Private to "gustan": -. Private to "gustando": do.

"gustan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "gustando" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gustan ← ggustan · gsutan · gusatn · gusstan · gustann · gustna · gusttan · gutsan
  • gustando ← ggustando · gsutando · gusatndo · gusstando · gustadno · gustanddo · gustanndo · gustanod

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gustan" for "gustando" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈgust̪ãn] versus [gusˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gustan" or "gustando"?
"gustan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,547 in our Spanish list, against #18,557 for "gustando". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gustan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gustando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #260,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gustan" and "gustando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gestando vs gustando". 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 #260,783 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