llenabanvsllevabanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,695
“llenaban” frequency rank
#6,080
“llevaban” frequency rank
43775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature llenaban llevaban
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de llenar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de llevar.

Where the eye mixes llenaban and llevaban

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. llenaban and llevaban follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
llenaban
8 ch
llevaban

Look-alike desk: llenaban vs llevaban

A purely visual mix-up. llenaban ([ʝeˈnaβ̞ãn]) and llevaban ([ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞ãn]) 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 “llenaban” becomes v in “llevaban”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

llenaban is recorded at frequency rank #37,695, classified as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈnaβ̞ãn]. llevaban is at rank #6,080, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞ãn].

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 43775, this pair ranks #140,778 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of llenaban vs llevaban

Shared letters: abeln. Private to "llenaban": -. Private to "llevaban": v.

"llenaban" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "llevaban" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • llenaban ← lelnaban · lenaban · lleanban · llenaabn · llenabann · llenabban · llenabna · llenavan
  • llevaban ← lelvaban · levaban · lleavban · llebaban · llevaabn · llevabann · llevabban · llevabna

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "llenaban" for "llevaban" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʝeˈnaβ̞ãn] versus [ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "llenaban" or "llevaban" show up more?
"llevaban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,080 in our Spanish list, against #37,695 for "llenaban". 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 "llenaban" and "llevaban" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "llenaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "llevaban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #140,778 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "llenaban" and "llevaban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "llenaban vs llevabas". 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 #140,778 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