importabanvsimportanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,553
“importaban” frequency rank
#5,626
“importan” frequency rank
41179
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature importaban importan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de importar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de importar.

Where the eye mixes importaban and importan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
importaban
8 ch
importan

Visual trap between importaban and importan

A purely visual mix-up. importaban ([ĩmpoɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn]) and importan ([ĩmˈpoɾt̪ãn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

importaban is recorded at frequency rank #35,553, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmpoɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. importan is at rank #5,626, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmˈpoɾt̪ãn].

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 41179, this pair ranks #155,084 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of importaban vs importan

Shared letters: aimnoprt. Private to "importaban": b. Private to "importan": -.

"importaban" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC  ·  "importan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • importabanimmportaban · imoprtaban · imporatban · imporrtaban · importaabn · importabann · importabban · importabna
  • importanimmportan · imoprtan · imporatn · imporrtan · importann · importna · importtan · impotran

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "importaban" and "importan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmpoɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn] versus [ĩmˈpoɾt̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "importaban" or "importan"?
"importan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,626 in our Spanish list, against #35,553 for "importaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "importaban" and "importan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "importaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "importan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,084 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "importaban" and "importan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "importaban vs importará". 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 #155,084 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