importarvsimportenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,128
“importar” frequency rank
#37,143
“importen” frequency rank
40271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature importar importen
Definition Merecer atención y valoración por su entidad o significatividad. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de importar.

Where the eye mixes importar and importen

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

8 ch
importar
8 ch
importen

Look-alike desk: importar vs importen

A purely visual mix-up. importar ([ĩmpoɾˈt̪aɾ]) and importen ([ĩmˈpoɾt̪ẽn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

importar is recorded at frequency rank #3,128, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmpoɾˈt̪aɾ]. 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 40271, this pair ranks #160,006 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of importar vs importen

Shared letters: imoprt. Private to "importar": a. Private to "importen": en.

"importar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "importen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • importarimmportar · imoprtar · imporatr · imporrtar · importarr · importra · importtar · impotrar
  • importenimmporten · imoprten · imporetn · imporrten · importenn · importne · importten · impotren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "importar" and "importen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmpoɾˈt̪aɾ] versus [ĩmˈpoɾt̪ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "importar" or "importen" show up more?
"importar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,128 in our Spanish list, against #37,143 for "importen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "importar" 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 #160,006 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "importar" 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 #160,006 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