Which to use
“engañen” is a verb and “engaños” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,189
- “engañen” frequency rank
- #17,126
- “engaños” frequency rank
- 49315
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | engañen | engaños |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de engañar. | Forma del plural de engaño. |
Where the eye mixes engañen and engaños
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. engañen and engaños follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: engañen vs engaños
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: engañen is [ẽŋˈgaɲẽn] while engaños is [ẽŋˈgaɲos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
engañen is recorded at frequency rank #32,189, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽŋˈgaɲẽn]. engaños is at rank #17,126, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ẽŋˈgaɲos].
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 49315, this pair ranks #109,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of engañen vs engaños
Shared letters: aegnñ. Private to "engañen": -. Private to "engaños": os.
"engañen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "engaños" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "engañen" for "engaños" ever safe?
Which is more common, "engañen" or "engaños"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "engañen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "engaños" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "engañen" and "engaños" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "engañen vs engañes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #109,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.