intentadovsintentanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,517
“intentado” frequency rank
#5,120
“intentan” frequency rank
9637
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intentado intentan
Definition Participio de intentar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de intentar.

Where the eye mixes intentado and intentan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
intentado
8 ch
intentan

Why the eye confuses intentado with intentan

A purely visual mix-up. intentado ([ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o]) and intentan ([ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn]) 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 9637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intentado is recorded at frequency rank #4,517, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o]. intentan is at rank #5,120, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn].

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 9637, this pair ranks #301,336 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of intentado vs intentan

Shared letters: aeint. Private to "intentado": do. Private to "intentan": -.

"intentado" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "intentan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • intentadoinetntado · inntentado · intenatdo · intenntado · intentaddo · intentaod · intentdao · intenttado
  • intentaninetntan · inntentan · intenatn · intenntan · intentann · intentna · intenttan · intetnan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "intentado" and "intentan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o] versus [ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "intentado" or "intentan"?
"intentado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,517 in our Spanish list, against #5,120 for "intentan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "intentado" and "intentan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "intentado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intentan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,336 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intentado" and "intentan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intentan vs inventen". 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 #301,336 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