erigirvsexigirWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,458
“erigir” frequency rank
#4,245
“exigir” frequency rank
34703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erigir exigir
Definition Constituir, levantar un edificio; también fundar. Cobrar, percibir, sacar a alguien por autoridad pública dinero u otra cosa.

Where the eye mixes erigir and exigir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. erigir and exigir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
erigir
6 ch
exigir

Why the eye confuses erigir with exigir

A purely visual mix-up. erigir ([eɾiˈxiɾ]) and exigir ([eksiˈxiɾ]) 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 a single letter - r in “erigir” becomes x in “exigir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erigir is recorded at frequency rank #30,458, classified as averb, pronounced [eɾiˈxiɾ]. exigir is at rank #4,245, tagged as averb, pronounced [eksiˈxiɾ].

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 34703, this pair ranks #190,022 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erigir vs exigir

Shared letters: egir. Private to "erigir": -. Private to "exigir": x.

"erigir" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "exigir" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erigir ← eirgir · ergiir · eriggir · erigirr · erigri · eriigr · errigir · reigir
  • exigir ← eixgir · exgiir · exiggir · exigirr · exigri · exiigr · exxigir · xeigir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erigir" and "exigir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([eɾiˈxiɾ] versus [eksiˈxiɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "erigir" or "exigir" show up more?
"exigir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,245 in our Spanish list, against #30,458 for "erigir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "erigir" and "exigir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erigir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exigir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #190,022 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erigir" and "exigir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erigida vs erigir". 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 #190,022 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