Which to use
“important” is an adjective and “importen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,875
- “important” frequency rank
- #37,143
- “importen” frequency rank
- 78018
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | important | importen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Importante. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de importar. |
Where the eye mixes important and importen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses important with importen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: important is /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/ while importen is [ĩmˈpoɾt̪ẽn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
important is recorded at frequency rank #40,875, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/. importen is at rank #37,143, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmˈpoɾt̪ẽn].
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 78018, this pair ranks #15,105 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of important vs importen
Shared letters: imnoprt. Private to "important": a. Private to "importen": e.
"important" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC · "importen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "important" for "importen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "important" vs "importen" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "important" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "importen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,105 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "important" and "importen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "import 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 #15,105 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.