atentevsausenteConfusable pair

Quick tell: atente is a verb, ausente is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“atente” is a verb and “ausente” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,948
“atente” frequency rank
#8,756
“ausente” frequency rank
55704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atente ausente
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de atenerse (con el pronombre «te» enclítico). Que no está presente.

Where the eye mixes atente and ausente

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. atente runs 6 letters (VCVCCV) against ausente's 7 (VVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
atente
7 ch
ausente

Look-alike desk: atente vs ausente

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: atente is [aˈt̪ẽn̪t̪e] while ausente is [awˈsẽn̪t̪e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atente is recorded at frequency rank #46,948, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈt̪ẽn̪t̪e]. ausente is at rank #8,756, tagged as anadj, pronounced [awˈsẽn̪t̪e].

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 55704, this pair ranks #77,737 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of atente vs ausente

Shared letters: aent. Private to "atente": -. Private to "ausente": su.

"atente" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "ausente" · 7 letters · shape VVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atenteaetnte · atenet · atennte · atentte · atetne · atnete · attente · taente
  • ausenteasuente · aucente · auesnte · ausenet · ausennte · ausentte · ausetne · ausnete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "atente" for "ausente" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "atente" is a verb and "ausente" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "atente" or "ausente" show up more?
"ausente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,756 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "atente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,737 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atente" and "ausente" 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 #77,737 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