recordabavsrecordabanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,917
“recordaba” frequency rank
#38,926
“recordaban” frequency rank
49843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recordaba recordaban
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de recordar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de recordar.

Where the eye mixes recordaba and recordaban

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
recordaba
10 ch
recordaban

Why the eye confuses recordaba with recordaban

A purely visual mix-up. recordaba ([rekoɾˈð̞aβ̞a]) and recordaban ([rekoɾˈð̞aβ̞ãn]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “recordaba” sits inside “recordaban”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recordaba is recorded at frequency rank #10,917, classified as averb, pronounced [rekoɾˈð̞aβ̞a]. recordaban is at rank #38,926, tagged as averb, pronounced [rekoɾˈð̞aβ̞ãn].

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 49843, this pair ranks #106,540 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recordaba vs recordaban

Shared letters: abcdeor. Private to "recordaba": -. Private to "recordaban": n.

"recordaba" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV  ·  "recordaban" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recordabaercordaba · rceordaba · reccordaba · recodraba · recoradba · recordaab · recordabba · recordava
  • recordabanercordaban · rceordaban · reccordaban · recodraban · recoradban · recordaabn · recordabann · recordabban

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recordaba" for "recordaban" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([rekoɾˈð̞aβ̞a] versus [rekoɾˈð̞aβ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recordaba" or "recordaban"?
"recordaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,917 in our Spanish list, against #38,926 for "recordaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "recordaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recordaban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #106,540 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recordaba" and "recordaban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recordaban vs recordadas". 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 #106,540 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