imitanvsimitandoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,166
“imitan” frequency rank
#19,764
“imitando” frequency rank
52930
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes imitan and imitando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
imitan
8 ch
imitando

Visual trap between imitan and imitando

A purely visual mix-up. imitan ([iˈmit̪ãn]) and imitando ([imiˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]) 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) - “imitan” sits inside “imitando”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imitan is recorded at frequency rank #33,166, classified as averb, pronounced [iˈmit̪ãn]. imitando is at rank #19,764, tagged as averb, pronounced [imiˈt̪ãn̪d̪o].

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 52930, this pair ranks #90,374 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of imitan vs imitando

Shared letters: aimnt. Private to "imitan": -. Private to "imitando": do.

"imitan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "imitando" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imitaniimtan · imiatn · imitann · imitna · imittan · immitan · imtian · miitan
  • imitandoiimtando · imiatndo · imitadno · imitanddo · imitanndo · imitanod · imitnado · imittando

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imitan" and "imitando" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([iˈmit̪ãn] versus [imiˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "imitan" vs "imitando" - which ranks higher?
"imitando" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,764 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.

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 "imitan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imitando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #90,374 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imitan" and "imitando" 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 #90,374 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