construyavsconstruyenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,699
“construya” frequency rank
#11,742
“construyen” frequency rank
40441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature construya construyen
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de construir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de construir.

Where the eye mixes construya and construyen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. construya runs 9 letters (CVCCCCVVV) against construyen's 10 (CVCCCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
construya
10 ch
construyen

Why the eye confuses construya with construyen

A purely visual mix-up. construya ([kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝa]) and construyen ([kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝẽn]) 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 40441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

construya is recorded at frequency rank #28,699, classified as averb, pronounced [kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝa]. construyen is at rank #11,742, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝẽn].

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 40441, this pair ranks #159,061 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of construya vs construyen

Shared letters: cnorstuy. Private to "construya": a. Private to "construyen": e.

"construya" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVVV  ·  "construyen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • construya ← cconstruya · cnostruya · connstruya · consrtuya · consstruya · constrruya · construay · construyya
  • construyen ← cconstruyen · cnostruyen · connstruyen · consrtuyen · consstruyen · constrruyen · construeyn · construyenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "construya" and "construyen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝa] versus [kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "construya" or "construyen" show up more?
"construyen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,742 in our Spanish list, against #28,699 for "construya". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "construya" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "construyen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,061 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "construya" and "construyen" 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 #159,061 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