Which to use
“obligaban” is a verb and “obligadas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,238
- “obligaban” frequency rank
- #15,431
- “obligadas” frequency rank
- 49669
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obligaban | obligadas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de obligar. | Forma del femenino plural de obligado, participio de obligar o de obligarse. |
Where the eye mixes obligaban and obligadas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. obligaban and obligadas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between obligaban and obligadas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obligaban is [oβ̞liˈɣ̞aβ̞ãn] while obligadas is [oβ̞liˈɣ̞að̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obligaban is recorded at frequency rank #34,238, classified as averb, pronounced [oβ̞liˈɣ̞aβ̞ãn]. obligadas is at rank #15,431, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [oβ̞liˈɣ̞að̞as].
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 49669, this pair ranks #107,522 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of obligaban vs obligadas
Shared letters: abgilo. Private to "obligaban": n. Private to "obligadas": ds.
"obligaban" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC · "obligadas" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "obligaban" and "obligadas" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "obligaban" vs "obligadas" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "obligaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "obligadas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,522 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obligaban" and "obligadas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obligaban vs obligará". 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 #107,522 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.