olvidanvsolvídateWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,720
“olvidan” frequency rank
#16,166
“olvídate” frequency rank
26886
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature olvidan olvídate
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de olvidar o de olvidarse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de olvidarse (con el pronombre enclítico).

Where the eye mixes olvidan and olvídate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. olvidan runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against olvídate's 8 (VCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
olvidan
8 ch
olvídate

Visual trap between olvidan and olvídate

A purely visual mix-up. olvidan ([olˈβ̞ið̞ãn]) and olvídate ([olˈβ̞ið̞at̪e]) 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 26886, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

olvidan is recorded at frequency rank #10,720, classified as averb, pronounced [olˈβ̞ið̞ãn]. olvídate is at rank #16,166, tagged as averb, pronounced [olˈβ̞ið̞at̪e].

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 26886, this pair ranks #229,493 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of olvidan vs olvídate

Shared letters: adlov. Private to "olvidan": in. Private to "olvídate": etí.

"olvidan" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "olvídate" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • olvidan ← lovidan · olbidan · olivdan · ollvidan · olvdian · olviadn · olvidann · olviddan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "olvidan" for "olvídate" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([olˈβ̞ið̞ãn] versus [olˈβ̞ið̞at̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "olvidan" or "olvídate"?
"olvidan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,720 in our Spanish list, against #16,166 for "olvídate". 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 "olvidan" and "olvídate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "olvidan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "olvídate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #229,493 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "olvidan" and "olvídate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "olvidan vs olvidarán". 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 #229,493 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