preocupaciónvspreocuparonConfusable pair

Quick tell: preocupación is a noun, preocuparon is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“preocupación” is a noun and “preocuparon” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,138
“preocupación” frequency rank
#43,783
“preocuparon” frequency rank
46921
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature preocupación preocuparon
Definition Acción o efecto de preocupar y preocuparse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de preocupar o de preocuparse.

Where the eye mixes preocupación and preocuparon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. preocupación runs 12 letters (CCVVCVCVCVVC) against preocuparon's 11 (CCVVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
preocupación
11 ch
preocuparon

Look-alike desk: preocupación vs preocuparon

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: preocupación is [pɾeokupaˈsjõn] while preocuparon is [pɾeokuˈpaɾõn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

preocupación is recorded at frequency rank #3,138, classified as anoun, pronounced [pɾeokupaˈsjõn]. preocuparon is at rank #43,783, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾeokuˈpaɾõn].

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 46921, this pair ranks #122,990 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of preocupación vs preocuparon

Shared letters: acenopru. Private to "preocupación": ió. Private to "preocuparon": -.

"preocupación" · 12 letters · shape CCVVCVCVCVVC  ·  "preocuparon" · 11 letters · shape CCVVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preocuparon ← perocuparon · ppreocuparon · precouparon · preoccuparon · preocpuaron · preocuapron · preocupaorn · preocuparno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "preocupación" for "preocuparon" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "preocupación" is a noun and "preocuparon" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "preocupación" or "preocuparon"?
"preocupación" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,138 in our Spanish list, against #43,783 for "preocuparon". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "preocupación" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "preocuparon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,990 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "preocupación" and "preocuparon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "preocupaban vs preocuparon". 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 #122,990 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