señalanvsseñaléConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,360
“señalan” frequency rank
#46,808
“señalé” frequency rank
54168
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature señalan señalé
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de señalar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de señalar.

Where the eye mixes señalan and señalé

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. señalan runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against señalé's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
señalan
6 ch
señalé

Visual trap between señalan and señalé

A purely visual mix-up. señalan ([seˈɲalãn]) and señalé ([seɲaˈle]) 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 54168, 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]. señalé is at rank #46,808, tagged as averb, pronounced [seɲaˈle].

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 54168, this pair ranks #84,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of señalan vs señalé

Shared letters: aelsñ. Private to "señalan": n. Private to "señalé": é.

"señalan" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "señalé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "señalan" and "señalé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([seˈɲalãn] versus [seɲaˈle]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "señalan" or "señalé" show up more?
"señalan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,360 in our Spanish list, against #46,808 for "señalé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "señalé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #84,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "señalan" and "señalé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seal vs señalé". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #84,529 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