importavsimportarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#536
“importa” frequency rank
#3,128
“importar” frequency rank
3664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature importa importar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de importar. Merecer atención y valoración por su entidad o significatividad.

Where the eye mixes importa and importar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
importa
8 ch
importar

Visual trap between importa and importar

A purely visual mix-up. importa ([ĩmˈpoɾt̪a]) and importar ([ĩmpoɾˈt̪aɾ]) 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) - “importa” sits inside “importar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

importa is recorded at frequency rank #536, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmˈpoɾt̪a]. importar is at rank #3,128, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmpoɾˈt̪aɾ].

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 3664, this pair ranks #317,833 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of importa vs importar

Shared letters: aimoprt. Private to "importa": -. Private to "importar": -.

"importa" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "importar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • importaimmporta · imoprta · imporat · imporrta · importta · impotra · impporta · improta
  • importarimmportar · imoprtar · imporatr · imporrtar · importarr · importra · importtar · impotrar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "importa" and "importar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmˈpoɾt̪a] versus [ĩmpoɾˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "importa" or "importar"?
"importa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #536 in our Spanish list, against #3,128 for "importar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "importa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "importar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #317,833 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "importa" and "importar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "import vs importar". 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 #317,833 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