Which to use
“acaben” and “atañen” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,762
- “acaben” frequency rank
- #46,945
- “atañen” frequency rank
- 62707
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acaben | atañen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de acabar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de atañer. |
Where the eye mixes acaben and atañen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. acaben and atañen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: acaben vs atañen
A purely visual mix-up. acaben ([aˈkaβ̞ẽn]) and atañen ([aˈt̪aɲẽn]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acaben is recorded at frequency rank #15,762, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈkaβ̞ẽn]. atañen is at rank #46,945, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈt̪aɲẽn].
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 62707, this pair ranks #51,122 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of acaben vs atañen
Shared letters: aen. Private to "acaben": bc. Private to "atañen": tñ.
"acaben" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "atañen" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- acaben ← aacben · acabben · acabenn · acabne · acaebn · acaven · acbaen · accaben
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "acaben" for "atañen" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "acaben" or "atañen" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "acaben" and "atañen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "acaben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "atañen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,122 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acaben" and "atañen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atañen vs avancen". 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 #51,122 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.