imitanvsiríanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,166
“imitan” frequency rank
#18,579
“irían” frequency rank
51745
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imitan irían
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de imitar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del condicional de ir o de irse.

Where the eye mixes imitan and irían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. imitan runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against irían's 5 (VCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
imitan
5 ch
irían

Visual trap between imitan and irían

A purely visual mix-up. imitan ([iˈmit̪ãn]) and irían ([iˈɾiãn]) 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 51745, 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]. irían is at rank #18,579, tagged as averb, pronounced [iˈɾiãn].

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 51745, this pair ranks #96,283 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of imitan vs irían

Shared letters: ain. Private to "imitan": mt. Private to "irían": rí.

"imitan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "irían" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imitan ← iimtan · imiatn · imitann · imitna · imittan · immitan · imtian · miitan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imitan" and "irían" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([iˈmit̪ãn] versus [iˈɾiãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "imitan" or "irían"?
"irían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,579 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 "irían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #96,283 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imitan" and "irían" 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 #96,283 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