autoríavsautoridadTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,295
“autoría” frequency rank
#1,537
“autoridad” frequency rank
15832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature autoría autoridad
Definition Condición o cualidad de autor Carácter o representación de una persona por su empleo, mérito o nacimiento.

Where the eye mixes autoría and autoridad

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. autoría runs 7 letters (VVCVCVV) against autoridad's 9 (VVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
autoría
9 ch
autoridad

Visual trap between autoría and autoridad

A purely visual mix-up. autoría ([awt̪oˈɾia]) and autoridad ([awt̪oɾiˈð̞að̞]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

autoría is recorded at frequency rank #14,295, classified as anoun, pronounced [awt̪oˈɾia]. autoridad is at rank #1,537, tagged as anoun, pronounced [awt̪oɾiˈð̞að̞].

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 15832, this pair ranks #278,602 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of autoría vs autoridad

Shared letters: aortu. Private to "autoría": í. Private to "autoridad": di.

"autoría" · 7 letters · shape VVCVCVV  ·  "autoridad" · 9 letters · shape VVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • autoridad ← atuoridad · auotridad · autoirdad · autordiad · autoriadd · autoridadd · autoridda · autoriddad

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "autoría" for "autoridad" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([awt̪oˈɾia] versus [awt̪oɾiˈð̞að̞]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "autoría" or "autoridad" show up more?
"autoridad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,537 in our Spanish list, against #14,295 for "autoría". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "autoría" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "autoridad" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #278,602 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "autoría" and "autoridad" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "autoría vs autorizan". 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 #278,602 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