conducenvsconducíanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,342
“conducen” frequency rank
#42,353
“conducían” frequency rank
54695
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conducen conducían
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de conducir o de conducirse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de conducir o de conducirse.

Where the eye mixes conducen and conducían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. conducen runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against conducían's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
conducen
9 ch
conducían

Look-alike desk: conducen vs conducían

A purely visual mix-up. conducen ([kõn̪ˈd̪usẽn]) and conducían ([kõn̪d̪uˈsiãn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conducen is recorded at frequency rank #12,342, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈd̪usẽn]. conducían is at rank #42,353, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪d̪uˈsiãn].

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 54695, this pair ranks #82,169 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of conducen vs conducían

Shared letters: cdnou. Private to "conducen": e. Private to "conducían": aí.

"conducen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "conducían" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • conducen ← cconducen · cnoducen · codnucen · condcuen · condducen · conduccen · conducenn · conducne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "conducen" for "conducían" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪ˈd̪usẽn] versus [kõn̪d̪uˈsiãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "conducen" or "conducían"?
"conducen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,342 in our Spanish list, against #42,353 for "conducían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "conducen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "conducían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #82,169 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conducen" and "conducían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conducían vs consumían". 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 #82,169 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