construirvsconstruyaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,599
“construir” frequency rank
#28,699
“construya” frequency rank
30298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature construir construya
Definition Edificar, hacer de nueva planta una obra de ingeniería, arquitectura o albañilería, como una casa o un edificio. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de construir.

Where the eye mixes construir and construya

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
construir
9 ch
construya

Look-alike desk: construir vs construya

A purely visual mix-up. construir ([kõnsˈt̪ɾwiɾ]) and construya ([kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

construir is recorded at frequency rank #1,599, classified as averb, pronounced [kõnsˈt̪ɾwiɾ]. construya is at rank #28,699, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝa].

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 30298, this pair ranks #212,672 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of construir vs construya

Shared letters: cnorstu. Private to "construir": i. Private to "construya": ay.

"construir" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVVC  ·  "construya" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • construircconstruir · cnostruir · connstruir · consrtuir · consstruir · constriur · constrruir · construirr
  • construyacconstruya · cnostruya · connstruya · consrtuya · consstruya · constrruya · construay · construyya

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "construir" and "construya" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõnsˈt̪ɾwiɾ] versus [kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "construir" or "construya" show up more?
"construir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,599 in our Spanish list, against #28,699 for "construya". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "construir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "construya" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #212,672 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "construir" and "construya" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "construían vs construya". 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 #212,672 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