señalanvsseñalarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,360
“señalan” frequency rank
#4,552
“señalar” frequency rank
11912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature señalan señalar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de señalar. Poner alguna señal o marca en alguna cosa.

Where the eye mixes señalan and señalar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
señalan
7 ch
señalar

Visual trap between señalan and señalar

A purely visual mix-up. señalan ([seˈɲalãn]) and señalar ([seɲaˈlaɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “señalan” becomes r in “señalar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

señalan is recorded at frequency rank #7,360, classified as averb, pronounced [seˈɲalãn]. señalar is at rank #4,552, tagged as averb, pronounced [seɲaˈlaɾ].

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 11912, this pair ranks #293,412 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of señalan vs señalar

Shared letters: aelsñ. Private to "señalan": n. Private to "señalar": r.

"señalan" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "señalar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "señalan" and "señalar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([seˈɲalãn] versus [seɲaˈlaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "señalan" vs "señalar" - which ranks higher?
"señalar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,552 in our Spanish list, against #7,360 for "señalan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "señalan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "señalar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #293,412 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "señalan" and "señalar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "señalan vs señalé". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #293,412 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