ubicadovsubicanWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ubicado is a adjective, ubican is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ubicado” is an adjective and “ubican” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,523
“ubicado” frequency rank
#17,569
“ubican” frequency rank
21092
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ubicado ubican
Definition Que responde a la situación en que se encuentra de un modo adecuado, sensato, prudente o razonable; con buen juicio. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de ubicar o de ubicarse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ubicado and ubican apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
ubicado
6 ch
ubican

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ubicado is [uβ̞iˈkað̞o] while ubican is [uˈβ̞ikãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ubicado is recorded at frequency rank #3,523, classified as anadj, pronounced [uβ̞iˈkað̞o]. ubican is at rank #17,569, tagged as averb, pronounced [uˈβ̞ikãn].

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 21092, this pair ranks #256,453 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ubicado vs ubican

Shared letters: abciu. Private to "ubicado": do. Private to "ubican": n.

"ubicado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "ubican" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ubicadobuicado · ubbicado · ubciado · ubiacdo · ubicaddo · ubicaod · ubiccado · ubicdao
  • ubicanbuican · ubbican · ubcian · ubiacn · ubicann · ubiccan · ubicna · uibcan

Frequency comparison

ubicado#3,523
ubican#17,569

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ubicado" and "ubican" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ubicado" is an adjective and "ubican" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ubicado" or "ubican"?
"ubicado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,523 in our Spanish list, against #17,569 for "ubican". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ubicado vs ubican

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “ubicado”; for a verb, it's “ubican”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ubicado” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list