Which to use
“construían” is a verb and “construidas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,221
- “construían” frequency rank
- #14,105
- “construidas” frequency rank
- 59326
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | construían | construidas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de construir. | Forma del femenino plural de construido, participio de construir. |
Where the eye mixes construían and construidas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. construían runs 10 letters (CVCCCCVVVC) against construidas's 11 (CVCCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses construían with construidas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: construían is [kõnsˈt̪ɾwiãn] while construidas is [kõnsˈt̪ɾwið̞as]. 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 (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59326, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
construían is recorded at frequency rank #45,221, classified as averb, pronounced [kõnsˈt̪ɾwiãn]. construidas is at rank #14,105, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kõnsˈt̪ɾwið̞as].
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 59326, this pair ranks #63,033 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of construían vs construidas
Shared letters: acnorstu. Private to "construían": í. Private to "construidas": di.
"construían" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVVVC · "construidas" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- construidas ← cconstruidas · cnostruidas · connstruidas · consrtuidas · consstruidas · constriudas · constrruidas · construdias
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "construían" for "construidas" ever safe?
Frequency check: "construían" vs "construidas" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "construían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "construidas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,033 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "construían" and "construidas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "construían vs construirán". 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 #63,033 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.