pretendanvspretendasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,350
“pretendan” frequency rank
#43,787
“pretendas” frequency rank
76137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pretendan pretendas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de pretender. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de pretender.

Where the eye mixes pretendan and pretendas

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

9 ch
pretendan
9 ch
pretendas

Look-alike desk: pretendan vs pretendas

A purely visual mix-up. pretendan ([pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪ãn]) and pretendas ([pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪as]) 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 - n in “pretendan” becomes s in “pretendas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pretendan is recorded at frequency rank #32,350, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪ãn]. pretendas is at rank #43,787, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪as].

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 76137, this pair ranks #18,270 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pretendan vs pretendas

Shared letters: adenprt. Private to "pretendan": -. Private to "pretendas": s.

"pretendan" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "pretendas" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pretendan ← pertendan · ppretendan · preetndan · pretednan · pretenadn · pretendann · pretenddan · pretendna
  • pretendas ← pertendas · ppretendas · preetndas · pretednas · pretenads · pretendass · pretenddas · pretendsa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pretendan" and "pretendas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪ãn] versus [pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pretendan" or "pretendas" show up more?
"pretendan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,350 in our Spanish list, against #43,787 for "pretendas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pretendan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pretendas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,270 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pretendan" and "pretendas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prendan vs pretendan". 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 #18,270 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