escribanvsescribenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,244
“escriban” frequency rank
#6,661
“escriben” frequency rank
24905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escriban escriben
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de escribir o de escribirse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de escribir o de escribirse.

Where the eye mixes escriban and escriben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. escriban and escriben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
escriban
8 ch
escriben

Look-alike desk: escriban vs escriben

A purely visual mix-up. escriban ([esˈkɾiβ̞ãn]) and escriben ([esˈkɾiβ̞ẽn]) 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 - a in “escriban” becomes e in “escriben”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escriban is recorded at frequency rank #18,244, classified as averb, pronounced [esˈkɾiβ̞ãn]. escriben is at rank #6,661, tagged as averb, pronounced [esˈkɾiβ̞ẽn].

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 24905, this pair ranks #238,957 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escriban vs escriben

Shared letters: bceinrs. Private to "escriban": a. Private to "escriben": -.

"escriban" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "escriben" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escriban ← ecsriban · esccriban · escirban · escrbian · escriabn · escribann · escribban · escribna
  • escriben ← ecsriben · esccriben · escirben · escrbien · escribben · escribenn · escribne · escriebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "escriban" for "escriben" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([esˈkɾiβ̞ãn] versus [esˈkɾiβ̞ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "escriban" vs "escriben" - which ranks higher?
"escriben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,661 in our Spanish list, against #18,244 for "escriban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "escriban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escriben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #238,957 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escriban" and "escriben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escriban vs escribís". 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 #238,957 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