Which to use
“engaña” is a verb and “engaño” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,587
- “engaña” frequency rank
- #6,176
- “engaño” frequency rank
- 20763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | engaña | engaño |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de engañar. | Proceso y resultado de engañar o de engañarse. |
Where the eye mixes engaña and engaño
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. engaña and engaño follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses engaña with engaño
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: engaña is [ẽŋˈgaɲa] while engaño is [ẽŋˈgaɲo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “engaña” becomes o in “engaño”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
engaña is recorded at frequency rank #14,587, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽŋˈgaɲa]. engaño is at rank #6,176, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ẽŋˈgaɲo].
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 20763, this pair ranks #257,905 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of engaña vs engaño
Shared letters: aegnñ. Private to "engaña": -. Private to "engaño": o.
"engaña" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "engaño" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "engaña" and "engaño" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "engaña" or "engaño"?
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 "engaña" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "engaño" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,905 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "engaña" and "engaño" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enanas vs engaña". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #257,905 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.