autorizavsautorizadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,848
“autoriza” frequency rank
#7,256
“autorizado” frequency rank
21104
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature autoriza autorizado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de autorizar. Participio de autorizar.

Where the eye mixes autoriza and autorizado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. autoriza runs 8 letters (VVCVCVCV) against autorizado's 10 (VVCVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
autoriza
10 ch
autorizado

Look-alike desk: autoriza vs autorizado

A purely visual mix-up. autoriza ([awt̪oˈɾisa]) and autorizado ([awt̪oɾiˈsað̞o]) 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 extra letter(s) - “autoriza” sits inside “autorizado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

autoriza is recorded at frequency rank #13,848, classified as averb, pronounced [awt̪oˈɾisa]. autorizado is at rank #7,256, tagged as averb, pronounced [awt̪oɾiˈsað̞o].

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 21104, this pair ranks #256,396 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of autoriza vs autorizado

Shared letters: aiortuz. Private to "autoriza": -. Private to "autorizado": d.

"autoriza" · 8 letters · shape VVCVCVCV  ·  "autorizado" · 10 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • autoriza ← atuoriza · auotriza · autoirza · autoriaz · autorizza · autorriza · autorzia · autroiza
  • autorizado ← atuorizado · auotrizado · autoirzado · autoriazdo · autorizaddo · autorizaod · autorizdao · autorizzado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "autoriza" and "autorizado" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([awt̪oˈɾisa] versus [awt̪oɾiˈsað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "autoriza" or "autorizado" show up more?
"autorizado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,256 in our Spanish list, against #13,848 for "autoriza". 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 "autoriza" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "autorizado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #256,396 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "autoriza" and "autorizado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "autoriza vs autorizaba". 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 #256,396 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