mantenganvsmanténgaseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,447
“mantengan” frequency rank
#42,021
“manténgase” frequency rank
53468
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mantengan manténgase
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de mantener o de mantenerse. Segunda persona del singular (usted) del imperativo afirmativo de mantenerse (con el pronombre «se» enclítico).

Where the eye mixes mantengan and manténgase

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mantengan runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against manténgase's 10 (CVCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
mantengan
10 ch
manténgase

Visual trap between mantengan and manténgase

A purely visual mix-up. mantengan ([mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgãn]) and manténgase ([mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgase]) 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 53468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mantengan is recorded at frequency rank #11,447, classified as averb, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgãn]. manténgase is at rank #42,021, tagged as averb, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgase].

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 53468, this pair ranks #87,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mantengan vs manténgase

Shared letters: aegmnt. Private to "mantengan": -. Private to "manténgase": .

"mantengan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "manténgase" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mantenganamntengan · manetngan · manntengan · mantegnan · mantenagn · mantengann · mantenggan · mantengna

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mantengan" and "manténgase" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgãn] versus [mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgase]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mantengan" vs "manténgase" - which ranks higher?
"mantengan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,447 in our Spanish list, against #42,021 for "manténgase". 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 "mantengan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "manténgase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mantengan" and "manténgase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manténganse vs manténgase". 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 #87,722 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