alimentanvsalimentandoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,969
“alimentan” frequency rank
#22,567
“alimentando” frequency rank
35536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alimentan alimentando
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de alimentar. Gerundio de alimentar.

Where the eye mixes alimentan and alimentando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. alimentan runs 9 letters (VCVCVCCVC) against alimentando's 11 (VCVCVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
alimentan
11 ch
alimentando

Visual trap between alimentan and alimentando

A purely visual mix-up. alimentan ([aliˈmẽn̪t̪ãn]) and alimentando ([alimẽn̪ˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “alimentan” sits inside “alimentando”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alimentan is recorded at frequency rank #12,969, classified as averb, pronounced [aliˈmẽn̪t̪ãn]. alimentando is at rank #22,567, tagged as averb, pronounced [alimẽn̪ˈt̪ãn̪d̪o].

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 35536, this pair ranks #185,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alimentan vs alimentando

Shared letters: aeilmnt. Private to "alimentan": -. Private to "alimentando": do.

"alimentan" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCCVC  ·  "alimentando" · 11 letters · shape VCVCVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alimentan ← ailmentan · aliemntan · alimenatn · alimenntan · alimentann · alimentna · alimenttan · alimetnan
  • alimentando ← ailmentando · aliemntando · alimenatndo · alimenntando · alimentadno · alimentanddo · alimentanndo · alimentanod

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alimentan" and "alimentando" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aliˈmẽn̪t̪ãn] versus [alimẽn̪ˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alimentan" or "alimentando" show up more?
"alimentan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,969 in our Spanish list, against #22,567 for "alimentando". 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 "alimentan" and "alimentando" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alimentan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alimentando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alimentan" and "alimentando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alimentando vs alimentándose". 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 #185,544 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