Which to use
“afectan” and “afecten” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,063
- “afectan” frequency rank
- #18,729
- “afecten” frequency rank
- 23792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | afectan | afecten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 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 afectan and afecten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between afectan and afecten
A purely visual mix-up. afectan ([aˈfekt̪ãn]) 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 a single letter - a in “afectan” becomes e in “afecten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
afectan is recorded at frequency rank #5,063, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈfekt̪ãn]. 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 23792, this pair ranks #244,132 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of afectan vs afecten
Shared letters: acefnt. Private to "afectan": -. Private to "afecten": -.
"afectan" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "afecten" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "afectan" and "afecten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "afectan" or "afecten" show up more?
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 "afectan" 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 #244,132 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "afectan" and "afecten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acechan vs afectan". 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 #244,132 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.