envíenvsenvíoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#15,361
“envíen” frequency rank
#4,331
“envío” frequency rank
19692
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature envíen envío
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de enviar. Cantidad de material, mercancía, dinero, etc. que se traslada por algún medio de una posición inicial a una posición final.

Where the eye mixes envíen and envío

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
envíen
5 ch
envío

Why the eye confuses envíen with envío

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: envíen is [ẽmˈbiẽn] while envío is [ẽmˈbio]. 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 19692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

envíen is recorded at frequency rank #15,361, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽmˈbiẽn]. envío is at rank #4,331, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ẽmˈbio].

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 19692, this pair ranks #262,612 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of envíen vs envío

Shared letters: enví. Private to "envíen": -. Private to "envío": o.

"envíen" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC  ·  "envío" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "envíen" and "envío" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "envíen" is a verb and "envío" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "envíen" or "envío"?
"envío" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,331 in our Spanish list, against #15,361 for "envíen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "envíen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "envío" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,612 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "envíen" and "envío" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "envés vs envíen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #262,612 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