apestanvsatentanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,380
“apestan” frequency rank
#33,432
“atentan” frequency rank
76812
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apestan atentan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de apestar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de atentar.

Where the eye mixes apestan and atentan

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

7 ch
apestan
7 ch
atentan

Look-alike desk: apestan vs atentan

A purely visual mix-up. apestan ([aˈpest̪ãn]) and atentan ([aˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn]) 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 76812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apestan is recorded at frequency rank #43,380, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈpest̪ãn]. atentan is at rank #33,432, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn].

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 76812, this pair ranks #17,069 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of apestan vs atentan

Shared letters: aent. Private to "apestan": ps. Private to "atentan": -.

"apestan" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "atentan" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apestanaepstan · apesatn · apesstan · apestann · apestna · apesttan · apetsan · appestan
  • atentanaetntan · atenatn · atenntan · atentann · atentna · atenttan · atetnan · atnetan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "apestan" and "atentan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aˈpest̪ãn] versus [aˈt̪ẽn̪t̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "apestan" vs "atentan" - which ranks higher?
"atentan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,432 in our Spanish list, against #43,380 for "apestan". 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 "apestan" and "atentan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apestan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atentan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,069 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apestan" and "atentan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apartan vs apestan". 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 #17,069 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