publicanvspublicaronTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,168
“publican” frequency rank
#9,026
“publicaron” frequency rank
17194
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature publican publicaron
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de publicar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de publicar.

Where the eye mixes publican and publicaron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. publican runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against publicaron's 10 (CVCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
publican
10 ch
publicaron

Why the eye confuses publican with publicaron

A purely visual mix-up. publican ([puˈβ̞likãn]) and publicaron ([puβ̞liˈkaɾõn]) 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 17194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

publican is recorded at frequency rank #8,168, classified as averb, pronounced [puˈβ̞likãn]. publicaron is at rank #9,026, tagged as averb, pronounced [puβ̞liˈkaɾõn].

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 17194, this pair ranks #273,165 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of publican vs publicaron

Shared letters: abcilnpu. Private to "publican": -. Private to "publicaron": or.

"publican" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "publicaron" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • publican ← pbulican · ppublican · pubblican · pubilcan · publcian · publiacn · publicann · publiccan
  • publicaron ← pbulicaron · ppublicaron · pubblicaron · pubilcaron · publciaron · publiacron · publicaorn · publicarno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "publican" for "publicaron" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([puˈβ̞likãn] versus [puβ̞liˈkaɾõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "publican" vs "publicaron" - which ranks higher?
"publican" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,168 in our Spanish list, against #9,026 for "publicaron". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "publican" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "publicaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #273,165 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "publican" and "publicaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "publicaré vs publicaron". 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 #273,165 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