tomabanvstomaráConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,564
“tomaban” frequency rank
#9,048
“tomará” frequency rank
26612
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tomaban tomará
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tomar o de tomarse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de tomar o de tomarse.

Where the eye mixes tomaban and tomará

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

7 ch
tomaban
6 ch
tomará

Look-alike desk: tomaban vs tomará

A purely visual mix-up. tomaban ([t̪oˈmaβ̞ãn]) and tomará ([t̪omaˈɾa]) 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 26612, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tomaban is recorded at frequency rank #17,564, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪oˈmaβ̞ãn]. tomará is at rank #9,048, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪omaˈɾa].

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 26612, this pair ranks #230,796 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tomaban vs tomará

Shared letters: amot. Private to "tomaban": bn. Private to "tomará": .

"tomaban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "tomará" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomabanotmaban · tmoaban · toamban · tomaabn · tomabann · tomabban · tomabna · tomavan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tomaban" and "tomará" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([t̪oˈmaβ̞ãn] versus [t̪omaˈɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tomaban" vs "tomará" - which ranks higher?
"tomará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,048 in our Spanish list, against #17,564 for "tomaban". 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 "tomaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomará" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,796 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tomaban" and "tomará" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tomará vs tomase". 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 #230,796 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