defiendanvsdefiendesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,825
“defiendan” frequency rank
#29,584
“defiendes” frequency rank
54409
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature defiendan defiendes
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de defender o de defenderse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de defender o de defenderse.

Where the eye mixes defiendan and defiendes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. defiendan and defiendes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
defiendan
9 ch
defiendes

Look-alike desk: defiendan vs defiendes

A purely visual mix-up. defiendan ([d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪ãn]) and defiendes ([d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪es]) 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 54409, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

defiendan is recorded at frequency rank #24,825, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪ãn]. defiendes is at rank #29,584, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪es].

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 54409, this pair ranks #83,441 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of defiendan vs defiendes

Shared letters: defin. Private to "defiendan": a. Private to "defiendes": s.

"defiendan" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC  ·  "defiendes" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • defiendan ← ddefiendan · defeindan · deffiendan · defiednan · defienadn · defiendann · defienddan · defiendna
  • defiendes ← ddefiendes · defeindes · deffiendes · defiednes · defienddes · defiendess · defiendse · defieneds

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "defiendan" and "defiendes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪ãn] versus [d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪es]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "defiendan" or "defiendes" show up more?
"defiendan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,825 in our Spanish list, against #29,584 for "defiendes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "defiendan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "defiendes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #83,441 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "defiendan" and "defiendes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defiendan vs dependan". 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 #83,441 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