Which to use
“atender” and “atienden” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,672
- “atender” frequency rank
- #15,016
- “atienden” frequency rank
- 18688
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | atender | atienden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Poner atención, tener los sentidos puestos para captar o comprender algo. :*Sinónimos: escuchar, abrir los ojos, aguzar los oídos, estar a la mira, estar pendiente de, prestar atención, tener puestos los cinco sentidos | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de atender. |
Where the eye mixes atender and atienden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: atender vs atienden
A purely visual mix-up. atender ([at̪ẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]) and atienden ([aˈt̪jẽn̪d̪ẽn]) 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 18688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
atender is recorded at frequency rank #3,672, classified as averb, pronounced [at̪ẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]. atienden is at rank #15,016, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈt̪jẽn̪d̪ẽn].
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 18688, this pair ranks #266,877 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of atender vs atienden
Shared letters: adent. Private to "atender": r. Private to "atienden": i.
"atender" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "atienden" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "atender" and "atienden" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "atender" or "atienden" show up more?
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 "atender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "atienden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #266,877 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "atender" and "atienden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atender 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 #266,877 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.