intentanvsintentarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,120
“intentan” frequency rank
#1,820
“intentar” frequency rank
6940
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intentan intentar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de intentar. Prepararse para hacer algo, tomar las medidas necesarias y hacer el esfuerzo para conseguirlo.

Where the eye mixes intentan and intentar

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

8 ch
intentan
8 ch
intentar

Why the eye confuses intentan with intentar

A purely visual mix-up. intentan ([ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn]) and intentar ([ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]) 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 “intentan” becomes r in “intentar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intentan is recorded at frequency rank #5,120, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn]. intentar is at rank #1,820, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ].

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 6940, this pair ranks #309,396 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of intentan vs intentar

Shared letters: aeint. Private to "intentan": -. Private to "intentar": r.

"intentan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "intentar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • intentaninetntan · inntentan · intenatn · intenntan · intentann · intentna · intenttan · intetnan
  • intentarinetntar · inntentar · intenatr · intenntar · intentarr · intentra · intenttar · intetnar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "intentan" and "intentar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn] versus [ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "intentan" vs "intentar" - which ranks higher?
"intentar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,820 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "intentan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intentar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #309,396 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intentan" and "intentar" 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 #309,396 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