enviabavsenvíanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,396
“enviaba” frequency rank
#9,812
“envían” frequency rank
33208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enviaba envían
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de enviar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de enviar.

Where the eye mixes enviaba and envían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. enviaba runs 7 letters (VCCVVCV) against envían's 6 (VCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
enviaba
6 ch
envían

Look-alike desk: enviaba vs envían

A purely visual mix-up. enviaba ([ẽmˈbjaβ̞a]) and envían ([ẽmˈbiãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enviaba is recorded at frequency rank #23,396, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽmˈbjaβ̞a]. envían is at rank #9,812, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽmˈbiãn].

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 33208, this pair ranks #198,027 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enviaba vs envían

Shared letters: aenv. Private to "enviaba": bi. Private to "envían": í.

"enviaba" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV  ·  "envían" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enviaba ← enbiaba · enivaba · ennviaba · envaiba · enviaab · enviabba · enviava · envibaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "enviaba" for "envían" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ẽmˈbjaβ̞a] versus [ẽmˈbiãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "enviaba" or "envían"?
"envían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,812 in our Spanish list, against #23,396 for "enviaba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "enviaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "envían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #198,027 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enviaba" and "envían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enviaba vs evitaba". 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 #198,027 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