Which to use
“enigma” is a noun and “exigía” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,324
- “enigma” frequency rank
- #16,098
- “exigía” frequency rank
- 32422
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enigma | exigía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Frase de sentido deliberadamente difícil de interpretar. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de exigir. |
Where the eye mixes enigma and exigía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. enigma (VCVCCV) and exigía (VCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between enigma and exigía
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enigma is [eˈniɣ̞ma] while exigía is [eksiˈxia]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enigma is recorded at frequency rank #16,324, classified as anoun, pronounced [eˈniɣ̞ma]. exigía is at rank #16,098, tagged as averb, pronounced [eksiˈxia].
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 32422, this pair ranks #202,048 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of enigma vs exigía
Shared letters: aegi. Private to "enigma": mn. Private to "exigía": xí.
"enigma" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "exigía" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- enigma ← eingma · engima · enigam · eniggma · enigmma · enimga · ennigma · neigma
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "enigma" for "exigía" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "enigma" or "exigía" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "enigma" and "exigía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "enigma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exigía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,048 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enigma" and "exigía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exigía vs exigiría". 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 #202,048 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.