comenvscomesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,155
“comen” frequency rank
#7,833
“comes” frequency rank
13988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comen comes
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de comer o de comerse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de comer.

Where the eye mixes comen and comes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
comen
5 ch
comes

Visual trap between comen and comes

A purely visual mix-up. comen ([ˈkomẽn]) and comes ([ˈkomes]) 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 - n in “comen” becomes s in “comes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comen is recorded at frequency rank #6,155, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkomẽn]. comes is at rank #7,833, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkomes].

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 13988, this pair ranks #285,806 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comen vs comes

Shared letters: cemo. Private to "comen": n. Private to "comes": s.

"comen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "comes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comenccomen · cmoen · coemn · comenn · commen · comne · ocmen
  • comesccomes · cmoes · coems · comess · commes · comse · ocmes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "comen" for "comes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkomẽn] versus [ˈkomes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "comen" or "comes" show up more?
"comen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,155 in our Spanish list, against #7,833 for "comes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,806 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comen" and "comes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "codex vs comes". 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 #285,806 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