Which to use
“importan” is a verb and “important” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,626
- “importan” frequency rank
- #40,875
- “important” frequency rank
- 46501
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | importan | important |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de importar. | Importante. |
Where the eye mixes importan and important
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses importan with important
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: importan is [ĩmˈpoɾt̪ãn] while important is /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “importan” sits inside “important”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
importan is recorded at frequency rank #5,626, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmˈpoɾt̪ãn]. important is at rank #40,875, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/.
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 46501, this pair ranks #125,355 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of importan vs important
Shared letters: aimnoprt. Private to "importan": -. Private to "important": -.
"importan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "important" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "importan" for "important" ever safe?
Frequency check: "importan" vs "important" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "importan" and "important" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "importan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "important" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #125,355 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "importan" and "important" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "important vs importen". 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 #125,355 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.