importanvsimportóWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,626
“importan” frequency rank
#14,870
“importó” frequency rank
20496
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature importan importó
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de importar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de importar.

Where the eye mixes importan and importó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
importan
7 ch
importó

Look-alike desk: importan vs importó

A purely visual mix-up. importan ([ĩmˈpoɾt̪ãn]) and importó ([ĩmpoɾˈt̪o]) 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 20496, 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]. importó is at rank #14,870, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmpoɾˈt̪o].

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 20496, this pair ranks #259,077 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of importan vs importó

Shared letters: imoprt. Private to "importan": an. Private to "importó": ó.

"importan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "importó" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • importanimmportan · imoprtan · imporatn · imporrtan · importann · importna · importtan · impotran

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "importan" and "importó" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmˈpoɾt̪ãn] versus [ĩmpoɾˈt̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "importan" vs "importó" - which ranks higher?
"importan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,626 in our Spanish list, against #14,870 for "importó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "importan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "importó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #259,077 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "importan" and "importó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "import vs importó". 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 #259,077 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