Which to use
“publican” and “publicas” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,168
- “publican” frequency rank
- #15,460
- “publicas” frequency rank
- 23628
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | publican | publicas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de publicar. | Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de publicar. |
Where the eye mixes publican and publicas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. publican and publicas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: publican vs publicas
A purely visual mix-up. publican ([puˈβ̞likãn]) and publicas ([puˈβ̞likas]) 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 “publican” becomes s in “publicas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23628, 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]. publicas is at rank #15,460, tagged as averb, pronounced [puˈβ̞likas].
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 23628, this pair ranks #244,901 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of publican vs publicas
Shared letters: abcilpu. Private to "publican": n. Private to "publicas": s.
"publican" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "publicas" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "publican" for "publicas" ever safe?
Which is more common, "publican" or "publicas"?
After this comparison
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 "publicas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,901 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "publican" and "publicas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "publicaré vs publicas". 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 #244,901 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.