lleganvsllenarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,737
“llegan” frequency rank
#4,173
“llenar” frequency rank
5910
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature llegan llenar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de llegar o de llegarse. Ocupar con alguna cosa un espacio vacío de cualquier especie.

Where the eye mixes llegan and llenar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. llegan and llenar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
llegan
6 ch
llenar

Why the eye confuses llegan with llenar

A purely visual mix-up. llegan ([ˈʝeɣ̞ãn]) and llenar ([ʝeˈnaɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

llegan is recorded at frequency rank #1,737, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʝeɣ̞ãn]. llenar is at rank #4,173, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈnaɾ].

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 5910, this pair ranks #312,316 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of llegan vs llenar

Shared letters: aeln. Private to "llegan": g. Private to "llenar": r.

"llegan" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "llenar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • llegan ← legan · lelgan · lleagn · llegann · lleggan · llegna · llgean
  • llenar ← lelnar · lenar · lleanr · llenarr · llennar · llenra · llnear

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "llegan" for "llenar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʝeɣ̞ãn] versus [ʝeˈnaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "llegan" vs "llenar" - which ranks higher?
"llegan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,737 in our Spanish list, against #4,173 for "llenar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "llegan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "llenar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #312,316 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "llegan" and "llenar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "llenar vs llené". 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 #312,316 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