construyevsconstruyenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,995
“construye” frequency rank
#11,742
“construyen” frequency rank
18737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature construye construyen
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de construir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de construir.

Where the eye mixes construye and construyen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. construye 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
construye
10 ch
construyen

Visual trap between construye and construyen

A purely visual mix-up. construye ([kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝe]) 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 extra letter(s) - “construye” sits inside “construyen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

construye is recorded at frequency rank #6,995, classified as averb, pronounced [kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝe]. 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 18737, this pair ranks #266,679 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of construye vs construyen

Shared letters: cenorstuy. Private to "construye": -. Private to "construyen": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • construye ← cconstruye · cnostruye · connstruye · consrtuye · consstruye · constrruye · construey · construyye
  • construyen ← cconstruyen · cnostruyen · connstruyen · consrtuyen · consstruyen · constrruyen · construeyn · construyenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "construye" and "construyen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝe] versus [kõnsˈt̪ɾuʝẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "construye" vs "construyen" - which ranks higher?
"construye" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,995 in our Spanish list, against #11,742 for "construyen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "construye" 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 #266,679 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "construye" and "construyen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "construían vs construyen". 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 #266,679 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