Which to use
“autoridades” is a noun and “autorizadas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,161
- “autoridades” frequency rank
- #15,546
- “autorizadas” frequency rank
- 16707
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | autoridades | autorizadas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del plural de autoridad. | Forma del femenino plural de autorizado, participio de autorizar. |
Where the eye mixes autoridades and autorizadas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. autoridades and autorizadas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCVCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses autoridades with autorizadas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: autoridades is [awt̪oɾiˈð̞að̞es] while autorizadas is [awt̪oɾiˈsað̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
autoridades is recorded at frequency rank #1,161, classified as anoun, pronounced [awt̪oɾiˈð̞að̞es]. autorizadas is at rank #15,546, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [awt̪oɾiˈsað̞as].
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 16707, this pair ranks #275,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of autoridades vs autorizadas
Shared letters: adiorstu. Private to "autoridades": e. Private to "autorizadas": z.
"autoridades" · 11 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCVC · "autorizadas" · 11 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- autoridades ← atuoridades · auotridades · autoirdades · autordiades · autoriaddes · autoridaddes · autoridadess · autoridadse
- autorizadas ← atuorizadas · auotrizadas · autoirzadas · autoriazdas · autorizaads · autorizadass · autorizaddas · autorizadsa
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "autoridades" and "autorizadas" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "autoridades" or "autorizadas" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "autoridades" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "autorizadas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #275,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "autoridades" and "autorizadas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "autorizaba vs autorizadas". 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 #275,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.