notavsnotenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: nota is a noun, noten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nota” is a noun and “noten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#712
“nota” frequency rank
#31,901
“noten” frequency rank
32613
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nota noten
Definition Señalización para facilitar el reconocimiento de algo o para darlo a conocer. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de notar.

Where the eye mixes nota and noten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
nota
5 ch
noten

Why the eye confuses nota with noten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nota is [ˈnot̪a] while noten is [ˈnot̪ẽn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32613, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nota is recorded at frequency rank #712, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈnot̪a]. noten is at rank #31,901, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnot̪ẽn].

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 32613, this pair ranks #201,067 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nota vs noten

Shared letters: not. Private to "nota": a. Private to "noten": e.

"nota" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "noten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • notannota · noat · notta · ntoa · onta
  • notennnoten · noetn · notenn · notne · notten · ntoen · onten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nota" for "noten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nota" is a noun and "noten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nota" or "noten"?
"nota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #712 in our Spanish list, against #31,901 for "noten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nota" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "noten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #201,067 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nota" and "noten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nome vs noten". 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 #201,067 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