imitanvsimitarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,166
“imitan” frequency rank
#11,795
“imitar” frequency rank
44961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imitan imitar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de imitar. Ejecutar una cosa a imagen o semejanza de otra.

Where the eye mixes imitan and imitar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. imitan and imitar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
imitan
6 ch
imitar

Look-alike desk: imitan vs imitar

A purely visual mix-up. imitan ([iˈmit̪ãn]) and imitar ([imiˈt̪aɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “imitan” becomes r in “imitar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44961, 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]. imitar is at rank #11,795, tagged as averb, pronounced [imiˈt̪aɾ].

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 44961, this pair ranks #134,107 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of imitan vs imitar

Shared letters: aimt. Private to "imitan": n. Private to "imitar": r.

"imitan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "imitar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imitan ← iimtan · imiatn · imitann · imitna · imittan · immitan · imtian · miitan
  • imitar ← iimtar · imiatr · imitarr · imitra · imittar · immitar · imtiar · miitar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "imitan" and "imitar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([iˈmit̪ãn] versus [imiˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "imitan" or "imitar"?
"imitar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,795 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "imitan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imitar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,107 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imitan" and "imitar" 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 #134,107 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