Voices en Español

If you’ve studied Spanish awhile, you already know the importance of using the accent mark (el tilde). The accent marks in Spanish are used to show not only where the emphasis must be placed when the words are spoken but also to distinguish between two words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. For example, él (he) el (the); sí (yes) si (if); té (tea) te (you), etc.

But did you know that there are several Spanish words that can be written with or without accent marks and their meanings don’t change? Best of all, both spellings are accepted by the Real Academia Española. In the past I’ve been puzzled when I’ve seen some words in Spanish, like atmósfera and período, spelled with and without accents. Knowing how important the accent mark is, I wasn’t sure if these were typos or accepted forms.

So, after doing a little research, I’ve complied a list of 24 of these words. [Click MORE to go directly to the list.] For each word, the one that is listed first is the version preferred by the RAE. However, both versions are accepted, so as long as you know how to spell the word correctly in Spanish, you don’t have to stress yourself trying to remember exactly where the accent mark goes if you can’t remember where to place the emphasis.

acné o acne: acne

afrodisíaco o afrodisiaco: aphrodisiac

amoníaco o amoniaco: ammonia

atmósfera o atmosfera: atmosphere

austriaco, ca o austríaco, ca.: Austrian

balaustre o balaústre: railing, guard rail (“Cada una de las columnas pequeñas que con los barandales forman las barandillas o antepechos de balcones, azoteas, corredores y escaleras.”)

bimano, na o bímano, na: Having two hands, i.e. a human being.

chófer o chofer: chauffeur, driver

cardíaco o cardiaco: cardiac, having to do with the heart

cóctel o coctel: cocktail

dinamo o dínamo: dynamo

elixir o elíxir: elixir

etíope o etiope: Ethiopian

fríjol o frijol: bean

médula o medula: marrow, as in bone marrow

meteoro o metéoro: meteor

olimpiada u olimpíada: Olympiad, Olympics

omóplato u omoplato: shoulder blade

pabilo o pábilo: A candle wick as well as the burned part of the wick.

pelícano o pelicano: pelican

pensil o pénsil: hanging, dangling

pentagrama o pentágrama: Pentagram, a five-sided geometric figure

período o periodo: period

varices o várices: Varicose veins