pretendanvspretendoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,350
“pretendan” frequency rank
#12,900
“pretendo” frequency rank
45250
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pretendan pretendo
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de pretender. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de pretender.

Where the eye mixes pretendan and pretendo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. pretendan runs 9 letters (CCVCVCCVC) against pretendo's 8 (CCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
pretendan
8 ch
pretendo

Visual trap between pretendan and pretendo

A purely visual mix-up. pretendan ([pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪ãn]) and pretendo ([pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪o]) 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 45250, 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]. pretendo is at rank #12,900, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪o].

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 45250, this pair ranks #132,517 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pretendan vs pretendo

Shared letters: denprt. Private to "pretendan": a. Private to "pretendo": o.

"pretendan" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "pretendo" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pretendan ← pertendan · ppretendan · preetndan · pretednan · pretenadn · pretendann · pretenddan · pretendna
  • pretendo ← pertendo · ppretendo · preetndo · pretedno · pretenddo · pretenndo · pretenod · pretnedo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pretendan" and "pretendo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪ãn] versus [pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pretendan" vs "pretendo" - which ranks higher?
"pretendo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,900 in our Spanish list, against #32,350 for "pretendan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pretendan" and "pretendo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pretendan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pretendo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #132,517 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pretendan" and "pretendo" 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 #132,517 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