atañevsatenteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,885
“atañe” frequency rank
#46,948
“atente” frequency rank
82833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atañe atente
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de atañer. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de atenerse (con el pronombre «te» enclítico).

Where the eye mixes atañe and atente

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. atañe runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against atente's 6 (VCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
atañe
6 ch
atente

Why the eye confuses atañe with atente

A purely visual mix-up. atañe ([aˈt̪aɲe]) and atente ([aˈt̪ẽn̪t̪e]) 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 82833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atañe is recorded at frequency rank #35,885, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈt̪aɲe]. atente is at rank #46,948, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈt̪ẽn̪t̪e].

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 82833, this pair ranks #8,804 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of atañe vs atente

Shared letters: aet. Private to "atañe": ñ. Private to "atente": n.

"atañe" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "atente" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atente ← aetnte · atenet · atennte · atentte · atetne · atnete · attente · taente

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "atañe" and "atente" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈt̪aɲe] versus [aˈt̪ẽn̪t̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "atañe" or "atente" show up more?
"atañe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,885 in our Spanish list, against #46,948 for "atente". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "atañe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,804 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atañe" and "atente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Atenco vs atente". 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 #8,804 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