preguntadovspreguntanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,874
“preguntado” frequency rank
#4,640
“preguntan” frequency rank
10514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature preguntado preguntan
Definition Participio de preguntar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de preguntar o de preguntarse.

Where the eye mixes preguntado and preguntan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. preguntado runs 10 letters (CCVCVCCVCV) against preguntan's 9 (CCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
preguntado
9 ch
preguntan

Why the eye confuses preguntado with preguntan

A purely visual mix-up. preguntado ([pɾeɣ̞ũn̪ˈt̪að̞o]) and preguntan ([pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ãn]) 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 10514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

preguntado is recorded at frequency rank #5,874, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾeɣ̞ũn̪ˈt̪að̞o]. preguntan is at rank #4,640, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ãn].

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 10514, this pair ranks #298,319 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of preguntado vs preguntan

Shared letters: aegnprtu. Private to "preguntado": do. Private to "preguntan": -.

"preguntado" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVCV  ·  "preguntan" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preguntado ← perguntado · ppreguntado · pregguntado · pregnutado · pregunatdo · pregunntado · preguntaddo · preguntaod
  • preguntan ← perguntan · ppreguntan · pregguntan · pregnutan · pregunatn · pregunntan · preguntann · preguntna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "preguntado" and "preguntan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([pɾeɣ̞ũn̪ˈt̪að̞o] versus [pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "preguntado" or "preguntan" show up more?
"preguntan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,640 in our Spanish list, against #5,874 for "preguntado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "preguntado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "preguntan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #298,319 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "preguntado" and "preguntan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "preguntado vs preguntará". 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 #298,319 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