motivanvsmotivandoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,765
“motivan” frequency rank
#49,809
“motivando” frequency rank
82574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature motivan motivando
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de motivar. Gerundio de motivar.

Where the eye mixes motivan and motivando

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

7 ch
motivan
9 ch
motivando

Look-alike desk: motivan vs motivando

A purely visual mix-up. motivan ([moˈt̪iβ̞ãn]) and motivando ([mot̪iˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o]) 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) - “motivan” sits inside “motivando”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

motivan is recorded at frequency rank #32,765, classified as averb, pronounced [moˈt̪iβ̞ãn]. motivando is at rank #49,809, tagged as averb, pronounced [mot̪iˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o].

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 82574, this pair ranks #9,097 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of motivan vs motivando

Shared letters: aimnotv. Private to "motivan": -. Private to "motivando": d.

"motivan" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "motivando" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • motivanmmotivan · moitvan · motiavn · motiban · motivann · motivna · motivvan · mottivan
  • motivandommotivando · moitvando · motiavndo · motibando · motivadno · motivanddo · motivanndo · motivanod

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "motivan" and "motivando" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([moˈt̪iβ̞ãn] versus [mot̪iˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "motivan" vs "motivando" - which ranks higher?
"motivan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,765 in our Spanish list, against #49,809 for "motivando". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "motivan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "motivando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,097 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "motivan" and "motivando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "motivador vs motivando". 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 #9,097 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