nadanvsnotanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,075
“nadan” frequency rank
#17,499
“notan” frequency rank
63574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nadan notan
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 notar.

Where the eye mixes nadan and notan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. nadan and notan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
nadan
5 ch
notan

Why the eye confuses nadan with notan

A purely visual mix-up. nadan ([ˈnað̞ãn]) and notan ([ˈnot̪ãn]) 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 63574, 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]. notan is at rank #17,499, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnot̪ãn].

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 63574, this pair ranks #48,317 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nadan vs notan

Shared letters: an. Private to "nadan": d. Private to "notan": ot.

"nadan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "notan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nadan ← naadn · nadann · naddan · nadna · ndaan · nnadan
  • notan ← nnotan · noatn · notann · notna · nottan · ntoan · ontan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nadan" and "notan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnað̞ãn] versus [ˈnot̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "nadan" vs "notan" - which ranks higher?
"notan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,499 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nadan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "notan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,317 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nadan" and "notan" 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 #48,317 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