Which to use
“intentaban” and “intentaran” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,453
- “intentaban” frequency rank
- #44,799
- “intentaran” frequency rank
- 62252
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intentaban | intentaran |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de intentar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo de intentar. |
Where the eye mixes intentaban and intentaran
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between intentaban and intentaran
A purely visual mix-up. intentaban ([ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞ãn]) and intentaran ([ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾãn]) 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 - b in “intentaban” becomes r in “intentaran”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intentaban is recorded at frequency rank #17,453, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. intentaran is at rank #44,799, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾãn].
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 62252, this pair ranks #52,670 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of intentaban vs intentaran
Shared letters: aeint. Private to "intentaban": b. Private to "intentaran": r.
"intentaban" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC · "intentaran" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- intentaban ← inetntaban · inntentaban · intenatban · intenntaban · intentaabn · intentabann · intentabban · intentabna
- intentaran ← inetntaran · inntentaran · intenatran · intenntaran · intentaarn · intentarann · intentarna · intentarran
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "intentaban" and "intentaran" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "intentaban" or "intentaran" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "intentaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intentaran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,670 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intentaban" and "intentaran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intentaran vs intentaría". 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 #52,670 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.