Which to use
“autorizada” is a participle and “autorizan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,103
- “autorizada” frequency rank
- #42,282
- “autorizan” frequency rank
- 52385
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | autorizada | autorizan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del femenino de autorizado, participio de autorizar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de autorizar. |
Where the eye mixes autorizada and autorizan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. autorizada runs 10 letters (VVCVCVCVCV) against autorizan's 9 (VVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between autorizada and autorizan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: autorizada is [awt̪oɾiˈsað̞a] while autorizan is [awt̪oˈɾisãn]. 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 (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
autorizada is recorded at frequency rank #10,103, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [awt̪oɾiˈsað̞a]. autorizan is at rank #42,282, tagged as averb, pronounced [awt̪oˈɾisãn].
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 52385, this pair ranks #92,970 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of autorizada vs autorizan
Shared letters: aiortuz. Private to "autorizada": d. Private to "autorizan": n.
"autorizada" · 10 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCV · "autorizan" · 9 letters · shape VVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- autorizada ← atuorizada · auotrizada · autoirzada · autoriazda · autorizaad · autorizadda · autorizdaa · autorizzada
- autorizan ← atuorizan · auotrizan · autoirzan · autoriazn · autorizann · autorizna · autorizzan · autorrizan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "autorizada" for "autorizan" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "autorizada" or "autorizan" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "autorizada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "autorizan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,970 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "autorizada" and "autorizan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "autorizan vs autorizando". 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 #92,970 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.