Which to use
“sustentado” and “sustentan” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,411
- “sustentado” frequency rank
- #30,689
- “sustentan” frequency rank
- 69100
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sustentado | sustentan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participio de sustentar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de sustentar. |
Where the eye mixes sustentado and sustentan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. sustentado runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVCV) against sustentan's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sustentado and sustentan
A purely visual mix-up. sustentado ([sust̪ẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o]) and sustentan ([susˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn]) 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 69100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sustentado is recorded at frequency rank #38,411, classified as averb, pronounced [sust̪ẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o]. sustentan is at rank #30,689, tagged as averb, pronounced [susˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn].
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 69100, this pair ranks #32,846 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sustentado vs sustentan
Shared letters: aenstu. Private to "sustentado": do. Private to "sustentan": -.
"sustentado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV · "sustentan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sustentado ← ssustentado · ssutentado · susetntado · susstentado · sustenatdo · sustenntado · sustentaddo · sustentaod
- sustentan ← ssustentan · ssutentan · susetntan · susstentan · sustenatn · sustenntan · sustentann · sustentna
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sustentado" for "sustentan" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sustentado" or "sustentan" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sustentado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sustentan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,846 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sustentado" and "sustentan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sustentada vs sustentado". 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 #32,846 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.