maltratadovsmaltratanWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: maltratado is a adjective, maltratan is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maltratado” is an adjective and “maltratan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,513
“maltratado” frequency rank
#42,555
“maltratan” frequency rank
69068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maltratado maltratan
Definition Que ha sufrido maltrato o abuso. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de maltratar o de maltratarse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maltratado and maltratan apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
maltratado
9 ch
maltratan

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maltratado is [mal̪t̪ɾaˈt̪að̞o] while maltratan is [mal̪ˈt̪ɾat̪ãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maltratado is recorded at frequency rank #26,513, classified as anadj, pronounced [mal̪t̪ɾaˈt̪að̞o]. maltratan is at rank #42,555, tagged as averb, pronounced [mal̪ˈt̪ɾat̪ãn].

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 69068, this pair ranks #32,922 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maltratado vs maltratan

Shared letters: almrt. Private to "maltratado": do. Private to "maltratan": n.

"maltratado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV  ·  "maltratan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maltratadoamltratado · malltratado · malrtatado · maltartado · maltraatdo · maltrataddo · maltrataod · maltratdao
  • maltratanamltratan · malltratan · malrtatan · maltartan · maltraatn · maltratann · maltratna · maltrattan

Frequency comparison

maltratado#26,513
maltratan#42,555

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maltratado" and "maltratan" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maltratado" is an adjective and "maltratan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maltratado" or "maltratan"?
"maltratado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,513 in our Spanish list, against #42,555 for "maltratan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maltratado vs maltratan

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “maltratado”; for a verb, it's “maltratan”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maltratado” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list