disminuirvsdisminuyeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,289
“disminuir” frequency rank
#8,510
“disminuye” frequency rank
14799
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature disminuir disminuye
Definition Hacer menor o más pequeño. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de disminuir.

Where the eye mixes disminuir and disminuye

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. disminuir (CVCCVCVVC) and disminuye (CVCCVCVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
disminuir
9 ch
disminuye

Visual trap between disminuir and disminuye

A purely visual mix-up. disminuir ([d̪ismiˈnwiɾ]) and disminuye ([d̪ismiˈnuʝe]) 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 14799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

disminuir is recorded at frequency rank #6,289, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪ismiˈnwiɾ]. disminuye is at rank #8,510, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪ismiˈnuʝe].

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 14799, this pair ranks #282,681 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of disminuir vs disminuye

Shared letters: dimnsu. Private to "disminuir": r. Private to "disminuye": ey.

"disminuir" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "disminuye" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • disminuir ← ddisminuir · dimsinuir · disimnuir · disminiur · disminnuir · disminuirr · disminuri · dismiunir
  • disminuye ← ddisminuye · dimsinuye · disimnuye · disminnuye · disminuey · disminuyye · disminyue · dismiunye

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "disminuir" and "disminuye" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪ismiˈnwiɾ] versus [d̪ismiˈnuʝe]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "disminuir" vs "disminuye" - which ranks higher?
"disminuir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,289 in our Spanish list, against #8,510 for "disminuye". 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 "disminuir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "disminuye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,681 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "disminuir" and "disminuye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "disminuir vs disminuirá". 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 #282,681 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