matabanvsmirabanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,682
“mataban” frequency rank
#18,898
“miraban” frequency rank
46580
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mataban miraban
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de matar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de mirar o de mirarse.

Where the eye mixes mataban and miraban

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mataban and miraban follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
mataban
7 ch
miraban

Look-alike desk: mataban vs miraban

A purely visual mix-up. mataban ([maˈt̪aβ̞ãn]) and miraban ([miˈɾaβ̞ãn]) 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 46580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mataban is recorded at frequency rank #27,682, classified as averb, pronounced [maˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. miraban is at rank #18,898, tagged as averb, pronounced [miˈɾaβ̞ãn].

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 46580, this pair ranks #124,914 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mataban vs miraban

Shared letters: abmn. Private to "mataban": t. Private to "miraban": ir.

"mataban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "miraban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mataban ← amtaban · maatban · mataabn · matabann · matabban · matabna · matavan · matbaan
  • miraban ← imraban · miarban · miraabn · mirabann · mirabban · mirabna · miravan · mirbaan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mataban" for "miraban" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([maˈt̪aβ̞ãn] versus [miˈɾaβ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mataban" or "miraban" show up more?
"miraban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,898 in our Spanish list, against #27,682 for "mataban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mataban" and "miraban" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mataban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "miraban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #124,914 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mataban" and "miraban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mataban vs matarían". 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 #124,914 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