afectavsafectenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,643
“afecta” frequency rank
#18,729
“afecten” frequency rank
21372
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature afecta afecten
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de afectar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de afectar.

Where the eye mixes afecta and afecten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
afecta
7 ch
afecten

Why the eye confuses afecta with afecten

A purely visual mix-up. afecta ([aˈfekt̪a]) and afecten ([aˈfekt̪ẽn]) 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 21372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

afecta is recorded at frequency rank #2,643, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈfekt̪a]. afecten is at rank #18,729, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈfekt̪ẽn].

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 21372, this pair ranks #255,226 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of afecta vs afecten

Shared letters: aceft. Private to "afecta": -. Private to "afecten": n.

"afecta" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "afecten" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • afectaaefcta · afceta · afecat · afeccta · afectta · afetca · affecta · faecta
  • afectenaefcten · afceten · afeccten · afecetn · afectenn · afectne · afectten · afetcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "afecta" and "afecten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈfekt̪a] versus [aˈfekt̪ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "afecta" or "afecten"?
"afecta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,643 in our Spanish list, against #18,729 for "afecten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "afecta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "afecten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #255,226 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "afecta" and "afecten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afecten vs afectos". 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 #255,226 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