imitadovsimitanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,721
“imitado” frequency rank
#33,166
“imitan” frequency rank
82887
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imitado imitan
Definition Participio de imitar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de imitar.

Where the eye mixes imitado and imitan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. imitado runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against imitan's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
imitado
6 ch
imitan

Look-alike desk: imitado vs imitan

A purely visual mix-up. imitado ([imiˈt̪að̞o]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imitado is recorded at frequency rank #49,721, classified as averb, pronounced [imiˈt̪að̞o]. 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 82887, this pair ranks #8,740 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of imitado vs imitan

Shared letters: aimt. Private to "imitado": do. Private to "imitan": n.

"imitado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "imitan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imitado ← iimtado · imiatdo · imitaddo · imitaod · imitdao · imittado · immitado · imtiado
  • imitan ← iimtan · imiatn · imitann · imitna · imittan · immitan · imtian · miitan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "imitado" and "imitan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([imiˈt̪að̞o] versus [iˈmit̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "imitado" or "imitan"?
"imitan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,166 in our Spanish list, against #49,721 for "imitado". 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 "imitado" and "imitan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "imitado" 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 #8,740 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imitado" and "imitan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imitado vs instado". 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 #8,740 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