Which to use
“participan” and “participé” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,141
- “participan” frequency rank
- #28,494
- “participé” frequency rank
- 33635
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | participan | participé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de participar. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de participar. |
Where the eye mixes participan and participé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. participan runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVC) against participé's 9 (CVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between participan and participé
A purely visual mix-up. participan ([paɾt̪iˈsipãn]) and participé ([paɾt̪isiˈpe]) 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 33635, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
participan is recorded at frequency rank #5,141, classified as averb, pronounced [paɾt̪iˈsipãn]. participé is at rank #28,494, tagged as averb, pronounced [paɾt̪isiˈpe].
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 33635, this pair ranks #195,746 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of participan vs participé
Shared letters: aciprt. Private to "participan": n. Private to "participé": é.
"participan" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC · "participé" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- participan ← aprticipan · paritcipan · parrticipan · partciipan · particcipan · particiapn · participann · participna
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "participan" and "participé" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "participan" vs "participé" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "participan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "participé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,746 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "participan" and "participé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "participas vs participé". 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 #195,746 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.