motivanvsmotiveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,765
“motivan” frequency rank
#40,410
“motive” frequency rank
73175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature motivan motive
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de motivar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de motivar.

Where the eye mixes motivan and motive

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
motivan
6 ch
motive

Look-alike desk: motivan vs motive

A purely visual mix-up. motivan ([moˈt̪iβ̞ãn]) and motive ([moˈt̪iβ̞e]) 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 73175, 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]. motive is at rank #40,410, tagged as averb, pronounced [moˈt̪iβ̞e].

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 73175, this pair ranks #23,840 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of motivan vs motive

Shared letters: imotv. Private to "motivan": an. Private to "motive": e.

"motivan" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "motive" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • motivanmmotivan · moitvan · motiavn · motiban · motivann · motivna · motivvan · mottivan
  • motivemmotive · moitve · motibe · motiev · motivve · mottive · motvie · mtoive

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "motivan" for "motive" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([moˈt̪iβ̞ãn] versus [moˈt̪iβ̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "motivan" or "motive"?
"motivan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,765 in our Spanish list, against #40,410 for "motive". 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 "motivan" and "motive" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "motivan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "motive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,840 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "motivan" and "motive" 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 #23,840 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