nadanvsnarranTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,075
“nadan” frequency rank
#33,729
“narran” frequency rank
79804
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nadan narran
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de nadar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de narrar.

Where the eye mixes nadan and narran

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. nadan runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against narran's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
nadan
6 ch
narran

Why the eye confuses nadan with narran

A purely visual mix-up. nadan ([ˈnað̞ãn]) and narran ([ˈnarãn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nadan is recorded at frequency rank #46,075, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnað̞ãn]. narran is at rank #33,729, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnarãn].

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 79804, this pair ranks #12,513 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nadan vs narran

Shared letters: an. Private to "nadan": d. Private to "narran": r.

"nadan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "narran" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nadan ← naadn · nadann · naddan · nadna · ndaan · nnadan
  • narran ← anrran · naran · nararn · narrann · narrna · nnarran · nraran

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nadan" for "narran" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnað̞ãn] versus [ˈnarãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "nadan" or "narran" show up more?
"narran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,729 in our Spanish list, against #46,075 for "nadan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nadan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "narran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,513 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nadan" and "narran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nadan vs nazcan". 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 #12,513 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