ahuyentarvsaumentarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,856
“ahuyentar” frequency rank
#2,067
“aumentar” frequency rank
37923
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ahuyentar aumentar
Definition Hacer que algo o alguien huya Hacer más grande una cantidad, número, extensión, volumen, importancia o magnitud.

Where the eye mixes ahuyentar and aumentar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. ahuyentar runs 9 letters (VCVVVCCVC) against aumentar's 8 (VVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
ahuyentar
8 ch
aumentar

Look-alike desk: ahuyentar vs aumentar

A purely visual mix-up. ahuyentar ([awʝẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]) and aumentar ([awmẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]) 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 37923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ahuyentar is recorded at frequency rank #35,856, classified as averb, pronounced [awʝẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]. aumentar is at rank #2,067, tagged as averb, pronounced [awmẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ].

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 37923, this pair ranks #172,746 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ahuyentar vs aumentar

Shared letters: aenrtu. Private to "ahuyentar": hy. Private to "aumentar": m.

"ahuyentar" · 9 letters · shape VCVVVCCVC  ·  "aumentar" · 8 letters · shape VVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ahuyentar ← ahhuyentar · ahueyntar · ahuyenatr · ahuyenntar · ahuyentarr · ahuyentra · ahuyenttar · ahuyetnar
  • aumentar ← amuentar · auemntar · aumenatr · aumenntar · aumentarr · aumentra · aumenttar · aumetnar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ahuyentar" for "aumentar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([awʝẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ] versus [awmẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ahuyentar" or "aumentar" show up more?
"aumentar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,067 in our Spanish list, against #35,856 for "ahuyentar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ahuyentar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aumentar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #172,746 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ahuyentar" and "aumentar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "asentar vs aumentar". 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 #172,746 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