Which to use
“publicaban” and “publican” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,407
- “publicaban” frequency rank
- #8,168
- “publican” frequency rank
- 47575
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | publicaban | publican |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de publicar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de publicar. |
Where the eye mixes publicaban and publican
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. publicaban runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVC) against publican's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: publicaban vs publican
A purely visual mix-up. publicaban ([puβ̞liˈkaβ̞ãn]) and publican ([puˈβ̞likãn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47575, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
publicaban is recorded at frequency rank #39,407, classified as averb, pronounced [puβ̞liˈkaβ̞ãn]. 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 47575, this pair ranks #119,293 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of publicaban vs publican
Shared letters: abcilnpu. Private to "publicaban": -. Private to "publican": -.
"publicaban" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC · "publican" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- publicaban ← pbulicaban · ppublicaban · pubblicaban · pubilcaban · publciaban · publiacban · publicaabn · publicabann
- publican ← pbulican · ppublican · pubblican · pubilcan · publcian · publiacn · publicann · publiccan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "publicaban" for "publican" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "publicaban" or "publican" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "publicaban" 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 #119,293 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "publicaban" and "publican" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "publicaban vs publicarán". 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 #119,293 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.