tocabanvstocaráConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,070
“tocaban” frequency rank
#18,702
“tocará” frequency rank
43772
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tocaban tocará
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tocar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de tocar.

Where the eye mixes tocaban and tocará

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
tocaban
6 ch
tocará

Visual trap between tocaban and tocará

A purely visual mix-up. tocaban ([t̪oˈkaβ̞ãn]) and tocará ([t̪okaˈɾa]) 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 43772, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tocaban is recorded at frequency rank #25,070, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪oˈkaβ̞ãn]. tocará is at rank #18,702, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪okaˈɾa].

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 43772, this pair ranks #140,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tocaban vs tocará

Shared letters: acot. Private to "tocaban": bn. Private to "tocará": .

"tocaban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "tocará" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tocabanotcaban · tcoaban · toacban · tocaabn · tocabann · tocabban · tocabna · tocavan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tocaban" and "tocará" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t̪oˈkaβ̞ãn] versus [t̪okaˈɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tocaban" or "tocará" show up more?
"tocará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,702 in our Spanish list, against #25,070 for "tocaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tocaban" and "tocará" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tocaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tocará" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #140,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tocaban" and "tocará" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tiara vs tocará". 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 #140,795 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