llevabanvsllevabasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,080
“llevaban” frequency rank
#43,111
“llevabas” frequency rank
49191
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature llevaban llevabas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de llevar. Segunda persona del singular (tú, vos) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de llevar.

Where the eye mixes llevaban and llevabas

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

8 ch
llevaban
8 ch
llevabas

Look-alike desk: llevaban vs llevabas

A purely visual mix-up. llevaban ([ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞ãn]) and llevabas ([ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞as]) 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 “llevaban” becomes s in “llevabas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49191, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

llevaban is recorded at frequency rank #6,080, classified as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞ãn]. llevabas is at rank #43,111, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞as].

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 49191, this pair ranks #110,214 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of llevaban vs llevabas

Shared letters: abelv. Private to "llevaban": n. Private to "llevabas": s.

"llevaban" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "llevabas" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • llevaban ← lelvaban · levaban · lleavban · llebaban · llevaabn · llevabann · llevabban · llevabna
  • llevabas ← lelvabas · levabas · lleavbas · llebabas · llevaabs · llevabass · llevabbas · llevabsa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "llevaban" and "llevabas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞ãn] versus [ʝeˈβ̞aβ̞as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "llevaban" or "llevabas"?
"llevaban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,080 in our Spanish list, against #43,111 for "llevabas". 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 "llevaban" and "llevabas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "llevaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "llevabas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #110,214 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "llevaban" and "llevabas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "llevabas vs llevarás". 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 #110,214 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