autorizadovsautorizandoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,256
“autorizado” frequency rank
#48,234
“autorizando” frequency rank
55490
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature autorizado autorizando
Definition Participio de autorizar. Gerundio de autorizar.

Where the eye mixes autorizado and autorizando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. autorizado runs 10 letters (VVCVCVCVCV) against autorizando's 11 (VVCVCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
autorizado
11 ch
autorizando

Look-alike desk: autorizado vs autorizando

A purely visual mix-up. autorizado ([awt̪oɾiˈsað̞o]) and autorizando ([awt̪oɾiˈsãn̪d̪o]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55490, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

autorizado is recorded at frequency rank #7,256, classified as averb, pronounced [awt̪oɾiˈsað̞o]. autorizando is at rank #48,234, tagged as averb, pronounced [awt̪oɾiˈsãn̪d̪o].

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 55490, this pair ranks #78,629 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of autorizado vs autorizando

Shared letters: adiortuz. Private to "autorizado": -. Private to "autorizando": n.

"autorizado" · 10 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCV  ·  "autorizando" · 11 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • autorizado ← atuorizado · auotrizado · autoirzado · autoriazdo · autorizaddo · autorizaod · autorizdao · autorizzado
  • autorizando ← atuorizando · auotrizando · autoirzando · autoriazndo · autorizadno · autorizanddo · autorizanndo · autorizanod

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "autorizado" for "autorizando" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([awt̪oɾiˈsað̞o] versus [awt̪oɾiˈsãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "autorizado" or "autorizando" show up more?
"autorizado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,256 in our Spanish list, against #48,234 for "autorizando". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "autorizado" and "autorizando" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "autorizado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "autorizando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #78,629 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "autorizado" and "autorizando" 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 #78,629 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