atendióvsatiendoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,878
“atendió” frequency rank
#29,051
“atiendo” frequency rank
46929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atendió atiendo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de atender. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de atender.

Where the eye mixes atendió and atiendo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. atendió (VCVCCVV) and atiendo (VCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
atendió
7 ch
atiendo

Visual trap between atendió and atiendo

A purely visual mix-up. atendió ([at̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and atiendo ([aˈt̪jẽn̪d̪o]) 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 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atendió is recorded at frequency rank #17,878, classified as averb, pronounced [at̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]. atiendo is at rank #29,051, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈt̪jẽn̪d̪o].

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 46929, this pair ranks #122,939 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of atendió vs atiendo

Shared letters: adeint. Private to "atendió": ó. Private to "atiendo": o.

"atendió" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV  ·  "atiendo" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atiendoaitendo · ateindo · atiedno · atienddo · atienndo · atienod · atinedo · attiendo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "atendió" and "atiendo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([at̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo] versus [aˈt̪jẽn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "atendió" vs "atiendo" - which ranks higher?
"atendió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,878 in our Spanish list, against #29,051 for "atiendo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "atendió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atiendo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,939 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atendió" and "atiendo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Atenco vs atiendo". 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 #122,939 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