mantenganvsmantengoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,447
“mantengan” frequency rank
#16,150
“mantengo” frequency rank
27597
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mantengan mantengo
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de mantener o de mantenerse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de mantener.

Where the eye mixes mantengan and mantengo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mantengan runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against mantengo's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
mantengan
8 ch
mantengo

Why the eye confuses mantengan with mantengo

A purely visual mix-up. mantengan ([mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgãn]) and mantengo ([mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgo]) 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 27597, 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]. mantengo is at rank #16,150, tagged as averb, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgo].

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 27597, this pair ranks #226,042 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mantengan vs mantengo

Shared letters: aegmnt. Private to "mantengan": -. Private to "mantengo": o.

"mantengan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "mantengo" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mantenganamntengan · manetngan · manntengan · mantegnan · mantenagn · mantengann · mantenggan · mantengna
  • mantengoamntengo · manetngo · manntengo · mantegno · mantenggo · mantenngo · mantenog · mantnego

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mantengan" for "mantengo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgãn] versus [mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mantengan" or "mantengo"?
"mantengan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,447 in our Spanish list, against #16,150 for "mantengo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mantengan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mantengo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #226,042 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mantengan" and "mantengo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mantengan vs manténganse". 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 #226,042 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