Which to use
“señalaban” is a verb and “señaladas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,322
- “señalaban” frequency rank
- #25,810
- “señaladas” frequency rank
- 63132
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | señalaban | señaladas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de señalar. | Forma del femenino plural de señalado, participio de señalar. |
Where the eye mixes señalaban and señaladas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: señalaban vs señaladas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: señalaban is [seɲaˈlaβ̞ãn] while señaladas is [seɲaˈlað̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
señalaban is recorded at frequency rank #37,322, classified as averb, pronounced [seɲaˈlaβ̞ãn]. señaladas is at rank #25,810, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [seɲaˈlað̞as].
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 63132, this pair ranks #49,740 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of señalaban vs señaladas
Shared letters: aelsñ. Private to "señalaban": bn. Private to "señaladas": d.
"señalaban" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC · "señaladas" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "señalaban" and "señaladas" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "señalaban" or "señaladas"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "señalaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "señaladas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,740 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "señalaban" and "señaladas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "señaladas vs señalamos". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #49,740 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.