conyugalvscónyugesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: conyugal is a adjective, cónyuges is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“conyugal” is an adjective and “cónyuges” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,778
“conyugal” frequency rank
#23,742
“cónyuges” frequency rank
50520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conyugal cónyuges
Definition Perteneciente a los cónyuges. Forma del plural de cónyuge.

Where the eye mixes conyugal and cónyuges

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. conyugal and cónyuges follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
conyugal
8 ch
cónyuges

Look-alike desk: conyugal vs cónyuges

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: conyugal is [kõɲʝuˈɣ̞al] while cónyuges is [ˈkõɲʝuxes]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conyugal is recorded at frequency rank #26,778, classified as anadj, pronounced [kõɲʝuˈɣ̞al]. cónyuges is at rank #23,742, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkõɲʝuxes].

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 50520, this pair ranks #102,748 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of conyugal vs cónyuges

Shared letters: cgnuy. Private to "conyugal": alo. Private to "cónyuges": esó.

"conyugal" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "cónyuges" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • conyugalcconyugal · cnoyugal · connyugal · conuygal · conygual · conyuagl · conyugall · conyuggal

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "conyugal" and "cónyuges" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "conyugal" is an adjective and "cónyuges" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "conyugal" or "cónyuges"?
"cónyuges" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,742 in our Spanish list, against #26,778 for "conyugal". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "conyugal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cónyuges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,748 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conyugal" and "cónyuges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conjugan vs conyugal". 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 #102,748 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