motivanvsmotivarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,765
“motivan” frequency rank
#18,906
“motivar” frequency rank
51671
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature motivan motivar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de motivar. Proporcionar un motivo o incentivo, incitar.

Where the eye mixes motivan and motivar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. motivan and motivar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
motivan
7 ch
motivar

Look-alike desk: motivan vs motivar

A purely visual mix-up. motivan ([moˈt̪iβ̞ãn]) and motivar ([mot̪iˈβ̞aɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “motivan” becomes r in “motivar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51671, 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]. motivar is at rank #18,906, tagged as averb, pronounced [mot̪iˈβ̞aɾ].

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 51671, this pair ranks #96,703 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of motivan vs motivar

Shared letters: aimotv. Private to "motivan": n. Private to "motivar": r.

"motivan" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "motivar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • motivanmmotivan · moitvan · motiavn · motiban · motivann · motivna · motivvan · mottivan
  • motivarmmotivar · moitvar · motiavr · motibar · motivarr · motivra · motivvar · mottivar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "motivan" and "motivar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([moˈt̪iβ̞ãn] versus [mot̪iˈβ̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "motivan" vs "motivar" - which ranks higher?
"motivar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,906 in our Spanish list, against #32,765 for "motivan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "motivar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #96,703 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "motivan" and "motivar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "motivan 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 #96,703 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