parabanvspararáTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,287
“paraban” frequency rank
#36,729
“parará” frequency rank
75016
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paraban parará
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de parar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de parar o de pararse.

Where the eye mixes paraban and parará

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. paraban runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against parará's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
paraban
6 ch
parará

Visual trap between paraban and parará

A purely visual mix-up. paraban ([paˈɾaβ̞ãn]) and parará ([paɾaˈɾa]) 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 75016, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paraban is recorded at frequency rank #38,287, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈɾaβ̞ãn]. parará is at rank #36,729, tagged as averb, pronounced [paɾaˈɾa].

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 75016, this pair ranks #20,348 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of paraban vs parará

Shared letters: apr. Private to "paraban": bn. Private to "parará": á.

"paraban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "parará" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paraban ← apraban · paarban · paraabn · parabann · parabban · parabna · paravan · parbaan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paraban" and "parará" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([paˈɾaβ̞ãn] versus [paɾaˈɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "paraban" or "parará"?
"parará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,729 in our Spanish list, against #38,287 for "paraban". 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 "paraban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "parará" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,348 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paraban" and "parará" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paraban vs partían". 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 #20,348 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