regresabanvsregresaráWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,307
“regresaban” frequency rank
#20,798
“regresará” frequency rank
55105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regresaban regresará
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de regresar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de regresar o de regresarse.

Where the eye mixes regresaban and regresará

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. regresaban runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVC) against regresará's 9 (CVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
regresaban
9 ch
regresará

Why the eye confuses regresaban with regresará

A purely visual mix-up. regresaban ([reɣ̞ɾeˈsaβ̞ãn]) and regresará ([reɣ̞ɾesaˈɾa]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regresaban is recorded at frequency rank #34,307, classified as averb, pronounced [reɣ̞ɾeˈsaβ̞ãn]. regresará is at rank #20,798, tagged as averb, pronounced [reɣ̞ɾesaˈɾa].

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 55105, this pair ranks #80,377 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of regresaban vs regresará

Shared letters: aegrs. Private to "regresaban": bn. Private to "regresará": á.

"regresaban" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "regresará" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regresabanergresaban · regersaban · reggresaban · regreasban · regresaabn · regresabann · regresabban · regresabna

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "regresaban" and "regresará" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([reɣ̞ɾeˈsaβ̞ãn] versus [reɣ̞ɾesaˈɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "regresaban" or "regresará" show up more?
"regresará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,798 in our Spanish list, against #34,307 for "regresaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "regresaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regresará" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #80,377 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regresaban" and "regresará" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regresaban vs regresarán". 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 #80,377 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