quemabanvsquemaronWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,541
“quemaban” frequency rank
#14,434
“quemaron” frequency rank
59975
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quemaban quemaron
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de quemar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de quemar o de quemarse.

Where the eye mixes quemaban and quemaron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. quemaban and quemaron follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
quemaban
8 ch
quemaron

Why the eye confuses quemaban with quemaron

A purely visual mix-up. quemaban ([keˈmaβ̞ãn]) and quemaron ([keˈmaɾõn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quemaban is recorded at frequency rank #45,541, classified as averb, pronounced [keˈmaβ̞ãn]. quemaron is at rank #14,434, tagged as averb, pronounced [keˈmaɾõn].

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 59975, this pair ranks #60,609 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of quemaban vs quemaron

Shared letters: aemnqu. Private to "quemaban": b. Private to "quemaron": or.

"quemaban" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC  ·  "quemaron" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quemaban ← qeumaban · qquemaban · queamban · quemaabn · quemabann · quemabban · quemabna · quemavan
  • quemaron ← qeumaron · qquemaron · queamron · quemaorn · quemarno · quemaronn · quemarron · quemmaron

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "quemaban" and "quemaron" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([keˈmaβ̞ãn] versus [keˈmaɾõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "quemaban" or "quemaron"?
"quemaron" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,434 in our Spanish list, against #45,541 for "quemaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quemaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quemaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,609 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quemaban" and "quemaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quemaban vs quitaban". 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 #60,609 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