Which to use
“public” is an adjective and “publican” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,212
- “public” frequency rank
- #8,168
- “publican” frequency rank
- 22380
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | public | publican |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Público | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de publicar. |
Where the eye mixes public and publican
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. public runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against publican's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: public vs publican
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: public is [py.blik] while publican is [puˈβ̞likãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “public” sits inside “publican”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
public is recorded at frequency rank #14,212, classified as anadj, pronounced [py.blik]. publican is at rank #8,168, tagged as averb, pronounced [puˈβ̞likãn].
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 22380, this pair ranks #250,601 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of public vs publican
Shared letters: bcilpu. Private to "public": -. Private to "publican": an.
"public" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "publican" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "public" and "publican" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "public" or "publican"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "public" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "publican" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #250,601 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "public" and "publican" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "púbico vs public". 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 #250,601 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.