patentesvspotentesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,193
“patentes” frequency rank
#16,421
“potentes” frequency rank
26614
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patentes potentes
Definition Forma del plural de patente. Forma del plural de potente.

Where the eye mixes patentes and potentes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. patentes and potentes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
patentes
8 ch
potentes

Look-alike desk: patentes vs potentes

A purely visual mix-up. patentes ([paˈt̪ẽn̪t̪es]) and potentes ([poˈt̪ẽn̪t̪es]) 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 a single letter - a in “patentes” becomes o in “potentes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

patentes is recorded at frequency rank #10,193, classified as anadj, pronounced [paˈt̪ẽn̪t̪es]. potentes is at rank #16,421, tagged as anadj, pronounced [poˈt̪ẽn̪t̪es].

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 26614, this pair ranks #230,789 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of patentes vs potentes

Shared letters: enpst. Private to "patentes": a. Private to "potentes": o.

"patentes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "potentes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patentes ← aptentes · paetntes · patenets · patenntes · patentess · patentse · patenttes · patetnes
  • potentes ← optentes · poetntes · potenets · potenntes · potentess · potentse · potenttes · potetnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "patentes" for "potentes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈt̪ẽn̪t̪es] versus [poˈt̪ẽn̪t̪es]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "patentes" vs "potentes" - which ranks higher?
"patentes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,193 in our Spanish list, against #16,421 for "potentes". 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 "patentes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "potentes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,789 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "patentes" and "potentes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pasantes vs patentes". 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 #230,789 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