atúnvsaúnWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: atún is a noun, aún is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“atún” is a noun and “aún” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,765
“atún” frequency rank
#240
“aún” frequency rank
13005
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atún aún
Definition (Thunnus spp.) Cualquiera de una docena de especies de peces oceánicos de la familia de los escómbridos, grandes nadadores y de gran tamaño; su carne, muy apreciada como alimento, es de color rojo intenso, excepcional entre los peces, por su alto contenido de mioglobina. Varias especies están en riesgo de extinción por la sobrepesca. Indica que el hecho persiste en el presente, aunque pueda cambiar en lo sucesivo..

Where the eye mixes atún and aún

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
atún
3 ch
aún

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: atún is [aˈt̪ũn] while aún is [aˈũn]. 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 (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13005, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atún is recorded at frequency rank #12,765, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈt̪ũn]. aún is at rank #240, tagged as anadv, pronounced [aˈũn].

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 13005, this pair ranks #289,486 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of atún vs aún

Shared letters: anú. Private to "atún": t. Private to "aún": -.

"atún" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "aún" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "atún" and "aún" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "atún" is a noun and "aún" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "atún" or "aún"?
"aún" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #240 in our Spanish list, against #12,765 for "atún". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list