llegarvsllegaronConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#341
“llegar” frequency rank
#1,778
“llegaron” frequency rank
2119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature llegar llegaron
Definition Acción de terminar un viaje o movimiento porque se ha alcanzado el destino. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de llegar o de llegarse.

Where the eye mixes llegar and llegaron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. llegar runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against llegaron's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
llegar
8 ch
llegaron

Visual trap between llegar and llegaron

A purely visual mix-up. llegar ([ʝeˈɣ̞aɾ]) and llegaron ([ʝeˈɣ̞aɾõn]) 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) - “llegar” sits inside “llegaron”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

llegar is recorded at frequency rank #341, classified as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈɣ̞aɾ]. llegaron is at rank #1,778, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈɣ̞aɾõn].

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 2119, this pair ranks #320,939 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of llegar vs llegaron

Shared letters: aeglr. Private to "llegar": -. Private to "llegaron": no.

"llegar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "llegaron" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • llegar ← legar · lelgar · lleagr · llegarr · lleggar · llegra · llgear
  • llegaron ← legaron · lelgaron · lleagron · llegaorn · llegarno · llegaronn · llegarron · lleggaron

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "llegar" for "llegaron" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʝeˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [ʝeˈɣ̞aɾõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "llegar" or "llegaron"?
"llegar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #341 in our Spanish list, against #1,778 for "llegaron". 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 "llegar" and "llegaron" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "llegar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "llegaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #320,939 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "llegar" and "llegaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "llegaron vs llegasen". 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 #320,939 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