imitavsimitanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,729
“imita” frequency rank
#33,166
“imitan” frequency rank
55895
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imita imitan
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de imitar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de imitar.

Where the eye mixes imita and imitan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. imita runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against imitan's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
imita
6 ch
imitan

Why the eye confuses imita with imitan

A purely visual mix-up. imita ([iˈmit̪a]) and imitan ([iˈmit̪ãn]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “imita” sits inside “imitan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55895, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imita is recorded at frequency rank #22,729, classified as averb, pronounced [iˈmit̪a]. imitan is at rank #33,166, tagged as averb, pronounced [iˈmit̪ãn].

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 55895, this pair ranks #76,879 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of imita vs imitan

Shared letters: aimt. Private to "imita": -. Private to "imitan": n.

"imita" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "imitan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imita ← iimta · imiat · imitta · immita · imtia · miita
  • imitan ← iimtan · imiatn · imitann · imitna · imittan · immitan · imtian · miitan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "imita" and "imitan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([iˈmit̪a] versus [iˈmit̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "imita" vs "imitan" - which ranks higher?
"imita" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,729 in our Spanish list, against #33,166 for "imitan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "imita" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imitan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #76,879 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imita" and "imitan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imitado vs imitan". 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 #76,879 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