olvidenvsolvídenseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,390
“olviden” frequency rank
#45,481
“olvídense” frequency rank
55871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature olviden olvídense
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de olvidar o de olvidarse. Segunda persona del plural (ustedes) del imperativo afirmativo de olvidarse (con el pronombre enclítico).

Where the eye mixes olviden and olvídense

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. olviden runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against olvídense's 9 (VCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
olviden
9 ch
olvídense

Look-alike desk: olviden vs olvídense

A purely visual mix-up. olviden ([olˈβ̞ið̞ẽn]) and olvídense ([olˈβ̞ið̞ẽnse]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

olviden is recorded at frequency rank #10,390, classified as averb, pronounced [olˈβ̞ið̞ẽn]. olvídense is at rank #45,481, tagged as averb, pronounced [olˈβ̞ið̞ẽnse].

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 55871, this pair ranks #76,976 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of olviden vs olvídense

Shared letters: delnov. Private to "olviden": i. Private to "olvídense": sí.

"olviden" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "olvídense" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • olviden ← loviden · olbiden · olivden · ollviden · olvdien · olvidden · olvidenn · olvidne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "olviden" for "olvídense" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([olˈβ̞ið̞ẽn] versus [olˈβ̞ið̞ẽnse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "olviden" or "olvídense" show up more?
"olviden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,390 in our Spanish list, against #45,481 for "olvídense". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "olviden" and "olvídense" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "olviden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "olvídense" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #76,976 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "olviden" and "olvídense" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "olvidéis vs olvídense". 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 #76,976 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