intentarvsintentaranTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,820
“intentar” frequency rank
#44,799
“intentaran” frequency rank
46619
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes intentar and intentaran

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
intentar
10 ch
intentaran

Visual trap between intentar and intentaran

A purely visual mix-up. intentar ([ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “intentar” sits inside “intentaran”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intentar is recorded at frequency rank #1,820, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]. 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 46619, this pair ranks #124,698 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of intentar vs intentaran

Shared letters: aeinrt. Private to "intentar": -. Private to "intentaran": -.

"intentar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "intentaran" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • intentarinetntar · inntentar · intenatr · intenntar · intentarr · intentra · intenttar · intetnar
  • intentaraninetntaran · inntentaran · intenatran · intenntaran · intentaarn · intentarann · intentarna · intentarran

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "intentar" and "intentaran" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ] versus [ĩn̪t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "intentar" vs "intentaran" - which ranks higher?
"intentar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,820 in our Spanish list, against #44,799 for "intentaran". 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 "intentar" 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 #124,698 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intentar" 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 #124,698 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