AdánvsAtanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,292
“Adán” frequency rank
#36,936
“Atan” frequency rank
49228
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Adán Atan
Definition Nombre de pila de varón. Apellido.

Where the eye mixes Adán and Atan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Adán
4 ch
Atan

Look-alike desk: Adán vs Atan

A purely visual mix-up. Adán ([aˈð̞ãn]) and Atan ([ˈat̪ãn]) 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 49228, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Adán is recorded at frequency rank #12,292, classified as aname, pronounced [aˈð̞ãn]. Atan is at rank #36,936, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈat̪ãn].

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 49228, this pair ranks #110,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Adán vs Atan

Shared letters: an. Private to "Adán": . Private to "Atan": t.

"Adán" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Atan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Atanaatn · atann · atna · attan · taan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Adán" for "Atan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈð̞ãn] versus [ˈat̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Adán" or "Atan"?
"Adán" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,292 in our Spanish list, against #36,936 for "Atan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Adán" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Atan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #110,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Adán" and "Atan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Atan vs ataron". 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 #110,013 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