ejercíavsejércitoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ejercía is a verb, ejército is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ejercía” is a verb and “ejército” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,651
“ejercía” frequency rank
#683
“ejército” frequency rank
22334
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ejercía ejército
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de ejercer o de ejercerse. Conjunto grande y organizado de soldados que combaten en común.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ejercía and ejército apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
ejercía
8 ch
ejército

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ejercía is [exeɾˈsia] while ejército is [eˈxeɾsit̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ejercía is recorded at frequency rank #21,651, classified as averb, pronounced [exeɾˈsia]. ejército is at rank #683, tagged as anoun, pronounced [eˈxeɾsit̪o].

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 22334, this pair ranks #250,815 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ejercía vs ejército

Shared letters: cejr. Private to "ejercía": . Private to "ejército": ioté.

"ejercía" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV  ·  "ejército" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV

Frequency comparison

ejercía#21,651
ejército#683

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ejercía" and "ejército" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ejercía" is a verb and "ejército" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ejercía" or "ejército"?
"ejército" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #683 in our Spanish list, against #21,651 for "ejercía". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ejercía vs ejército

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “ejercía”; for a noun, it's “ejército”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ejercía” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list