olvidenvsolvidoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,390
“olviden” frequency rank
#3,644
“olvido” frequency rank
14034
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature olviden olvido
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de olvidar o de olvidarse. Extinción de un recuerdo.

Where the eye mixes olviden and olvido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. olviden runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against olvido's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
olviden
6 ch
olvido

Why the eye confuses olviden with olvido

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: olviden is [olˈβ̞ið̞ẽn] while olvido is [olˈβ̞ið̞o]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14034, 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]. olvido is at rank #3,644, tagged as anoun, pronounced [olˈβ̞ið̞o].

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 14034, this pair ranks #285,645 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of olviden vs olvido

Shared letters: dilov. Private to "olviden": en. Private to "olvido": -.

"olviden" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "olvido" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • olviden ← loviden · olbiden · olivden · ollviden · olvdien · olvidden · olvidenn · olvidne
  • olvido ← lovido · olbido · olivdo · ollvido · olvdio · olviddo · olviod · olvvido

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "olviden" for "olvido" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "olviden" is a verb and "olvido" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "olviden" or "olvido"?
"olvido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,644 in our Spanish list, against #10,390 for "olviden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "olviden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "olvido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,645 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "olviden" and "olvido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "olviden 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 #285,645 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