diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2ffa659cf46..66f17a5c5e6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ For notes on migrating to 2.x / 0.200.x see [the upgrade guide](doc/upgrade-to-2
 ### :bug: Bug Fixes
 
 * fix(opentelemetry-instrumentation): improve `_warnOnPreloadedModules` function not to show warning logs when the module is not marked as loaded [#6095](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/pull/6095) @rlj1202
+* fix(sdk-trace-base): derive internal `SpanOptions` from API type to prevent drift [#6478](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/pull/6478) @overbalance
 
 ### :books: Documentation
 
diff --git a/api/CHANGELOG.md b/api/CHANGELOG.md
index f8a42fd8368..1b5290f0100 100644
--- a/api/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/api/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 * fix(api): prioritize `esnext` export condition as it is more specific [#5458](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/pull/5458)
 * fix(api): update diag `consoleLogger` to use original console methods to prevent infinite loop when a console instrumentation is present [#6395](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/pull/6395)
+* fix(api): use `Attributes` instead of deprecated `SpanAttributes` in `SpanOptions` [#6478](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/pull/6478) @overbalance
 
 ### :books: (Refine Doc)
 
diff --git a/api/src/trace/SpanOptions.ts b/api/src/trace/SpanOptions.ts
index 5247cea35f2..802654da54b 100644
--- a/api/src/trace/SpanOptions.ts
+++ b/api/src/trace/SpanOptions.ts
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  */
 
+import type { Attributes } from '../common/Attributes';
 import type { TimeInput } from '../common/Time';
-import type { SpanAttributes } from './attributes';
 import type { Link } from './link';
 import type { SpanKind } from './span_kind';
 
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export interface SpanOptions {
   kind?: SpanKind;
 
   /** A span's attributes */
-  attributes?: SpanAttributes;
+  attributes?: Attributes;
 
   /** {@link Link}s span to other spans */
   links?: Link[];
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/src/Span.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/src/Span.ts
index 391418ee16c..a1b900a245e 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/src/Span.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/src/Span.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import type {
   HrTime,
   Link,
   Span as APISpan,
+  SpanOptions as APISpanOptions,
   Attributes,
   AttributeValue,
   SpanContext,
@@ -47,21 +48,22 @@ import type { SpanLimits } from './types';
  */
 export type Span = APISpan & ReadableSpan;
 
-interface SpanOptions {
+// `root` is omitted because it is consumed by Tracer.startSpan() to strip
+// parent context but it has no meaning when constructing a Span directly.
+type SpanOptions = Omit<APISpanOptions, 'root'> & {
   resource: Resource;
   scope: InstrumentationScope;
   context: Context;
   spanContext: SpanContext;
   name: string;
+  // Required here to override optional `kind` from the API's SpanOptions
+  // SpanImpl assigns it unconditionally and ReadableSpan expects it to be set.
   kind: SpanKind;
   parentSpanContext?: SpanContext;
-  links?: Link[];
-  startTime?: TimeInput;
-  attributes?: Attributes;
   spanLimits: SpanLimits;
   spanProcessor: SpanProcessor;
   recordEndMetrics?: () => void;
-}
+};
 
 /**
  * This class represents a span.