compañíavscomponíanTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#705
“compañía” frequency rank
#36,480
“componían” frequency rank
37185
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature compañía componían
Definition Acto o consecuencia de acompañar o acompañarse; de estar, ser o existir junto a otro u otros. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de componer.

Where the eye mixes compañía and componían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. compañía runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against componían's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
compañía
9 ch
componían

Look-alike desk: compañía vs componían

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: compañía is [kõmpaˈɲia] while componían is [kõmpoˈniãn]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

compañía is recorded at frequency rank #705, classified as anoun, pronounced [kõmpaˈɲia]. componían is at rank #36,480, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõmpoˈniãn].

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 37185, this pair ranks #176,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of compañía vs componían

Shared letters: acmopí. Private to "compañía": ñ. Private to "componían": n.

"compañía" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "componían" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "compañía" for "componían" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "compañía" is a noun and "componían" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "compañía" or "componían"?
"compañía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #705 in our Spanish list, against #36,480 for "componían". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "compañía" and "componían" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "compañía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "componían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "compañía" and "componían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compensan vs componían". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #176,657 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