ocultadovsocultanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,580
“ocultado” frequency rank
#17,224
“ocultan” frequency rank
41804
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ocultado ocultan
Definition Participio de ocultar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de ocultar.

Where the eye mixes ocultado and ocultan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. ocultado runs 8 letters (VCVCCVCV) against ocultan's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
ocultado
7 ch
ocultan

Visual trap between ocultado and ocultan

A purely visual mix-up. ocultado ([okul̪ˈt̪að̞o]) and ocultan ([oˈkul̪t̪ãn]) 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 41804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ocultado is recorded at frequency rank #24,580, classified as averb, pronounced [okul̪ˈt̪að̞o]. ocultan is at rank #17,224, tagged as averb, pronounced [oˈkul̪t̪ãn].

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 41804, this pair ranks #151,692 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ocultado vs ocultan

Shared letters: aclotu. Private to "ocultado": d. Private to "ocultan": n.

"ocultado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV  ·  "ocultan" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ocultado ← coultado · occultado · oclutado · oculatdo · oculltado · ocultaddo · ocultaod · ocultdao
  • ocultan ← coultan · occultan · oclutan · oculatn · oculltan · ocultann · ocultna · oculttan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ocultado" for "ocultan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([okul̪ˈt̪að̞o] versus [oˈkul̪t̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ocultado" or "ocultan" show up more?
"ocultan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,224 in our Spanish list, against #24,580 for "ocultado". 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 "ocultado" and "ocultan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ocultado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ocultan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,692 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ocultado" and "ocultan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ocultado vs ocultaron". 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 #151,692 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