Which to use
“señalan” and “sonaban” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,360
- “señalan” frequency rank
- #38,399
- “sonaban” frequency rank
- 45759
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | señalan | sonaban |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de señalar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de sonar. |
Where the eye mixes señalan and sonaban
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses señalan with sonaban
A purely visual mix-up. señalan ([seˈɲalãn]) and sonaban ([soˈnaβ̞ãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45759, 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]. sonaban is at rank #38,399, tagged as averb, pronounced [soˈnaβ̞ãn].
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 45759, this pair ranks #129,593 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of señalan vs sonaban
Shared letters: ans. Private to "señalan": elñ. Private to "sonaban": bo.
"señalan" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "sonaban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sonaban ← osnaban · snoaban · soanban · sonaabn · sonabann · sonabban · sonabna · sonavan
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "señalan" and "sonaban" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "señalan" or "sonaban" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "señalan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sonaban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,593 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "señalan" and "sonaban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sonaban vs sonrían". 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 #129,593 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.