ranvsrazónWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ran is a verb, razón is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ran” is a verb and “razón” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,290
“ran” frequency rank
#356
“razón” frequency rank
24646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ran razón
Definition Pasado simple (irregular) del verbo (to) run. La facultad de la mente humana mediante la cual se distingue de la inteligencia de otros animales. La razón abarca a la concepción, juicio, razonamiento y la facultad intuitiva. Específicamente, es la facultad intuitiva, o la facultad de verdades primeras, en distinción al entendimiento, la que se llama facultad discursiva o raciocinativa.

Where the eye mixes ran and razón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ran
5 ch
razón

Look-alike desk: ran vs razón

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ran is /ɹæn/ while razón is [raˈsõn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ran is recorded at frequency rank #24,290, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹæn/. razón is at rank #356, tagged as anoun, pronounced [raˈsõn].

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 24646, this pair ranks #240,180 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ran vs razón

Shared letters: anr. Private to "ran": -. Private to "razón": .

"ran" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "razón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ran" and "razón" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ran" is a verb and "razón" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ran" or "razón"?
"razón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #356 in our Spanish list, against #24,290 for "ran". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ran" and "razón" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "razón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #240,180 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ran" and "razón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rajo vs ran". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #240,180 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