inclinanvsinclinarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,556
“inclinan” frequency rank
#37,147
“inclinar” frequency rank
72703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inclinan inclinar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de inclinar o de inclinarse. Hacer que algo o alguien cambie la posición vertical (perpendicular al horizonte) a una doblada u oblicua.

Where the eye mixes inclinan and inclinar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. inclinan and inclinar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
inclinan
8 ch
inclinar

Visual trap between inclinan and inclinar

A purely visual mix-up. inclinan ([ĩŋˈklinãn]) and inclinar ([ĩŋkliˈnaɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “inclinan” becomes r in “inclinar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inclinan is recorded at frequency rank #35,556, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩŋˈklinãn]. inclinar is at rank #37,147, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩŋkliˈnaɾ].

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 72703, this pair ranks #24,823 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of inclinan vs inclinar

Shared letters: aciln. Private to "inclinan": -. Private to "inclinar": r.

"inclinan" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "inclinar" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inclinan ← icnlinan · incclinan · incilnan · incliann · inclinann · inclinnan · incllinan · inclnian
  • inclinar ← icnlinar · incclinar · incilnar · inclianr · inclinarr · inclinnar · inclinra · incllinar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "inclinan" for "inclinar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩŋˈklinãn] versus [ĩŋkliˈnaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "inclinan" vs "inclinar" - which ranks higher?
"inclinan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,556 in our Spanish list, against #37,147 for "inclinar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "inclinan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inclinar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,823 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inclinan" and "inclinar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incitan vs inclinan". 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 #24,823 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