preguntanvspreguntenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,640
“preguntan” frequency rank
#13,121
“pregunten” frequency rank
17761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes preguntan and pregunten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. preguntan and pregunten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
preguntan
9 ch
pregunten

Why the eye confuses preguntan with pregunten

A purely visual mix-up. preguntan ([pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ãn]) and pregunten ([pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ẽn]) 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 a single letter - a in “preguntan” becomes e in “pregunten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

preguntan is recorded at frequency rank #4,640, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ãn]. pregunten is at rank #13,121, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ẽn].

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 17761, this pair ranks #270,805 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of preguntan vs pregunten

Shared letters: egnprtu. Private to "preguntan": a. Private to "pregunten": -.

"preguntan" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "pregunten" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preguntan ← perguntan · ppreguntan · pregguntan · pregnutan · pregunatn · pregunntan · preguntann · preguntna
  • pregunten ← pergunten · ppregunten · preggunten · pregnuten · pregunetn · pregunnten · preguntenn · preguntne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "preguntan" for "pregunten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ãn] versus [pɾeˈɣ̞ũn̪t̪ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "preguntan" or "pregunten"?
"preguntan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,640 in our Spanish list, against #13,121 for "pregunten". 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 "preguntan" and "pregunten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "preguntan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pregunten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #270,805 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "preguntan" and "pregunten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "preguntan vs preguntarán". 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 #270,805 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