Which to use
“escriban” and “escribió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,244
- “escriban” frequency rank
- #1,445
- “escribió” frequency rank
- 19689
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | escriban | escribió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de escribir o de escribirse. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de escribir o de escribirse. |
Where the eye mixes escriban and escribió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. escriban (VCCCVCVC) and escribió (VCCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses escriban with escribió
A purely visual mix-up. escriban ([esˈkɾiβ̞ãn]) and escribió ([eskɾiˈβ̞jo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19689, 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]. escribió is at rank #1,445, tagged as averb, pronounced [eskɾiˈβ̞jo].
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 19689, this pair ranks #262,630 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of escriban vs escribió
Shared letters: bceirs. Private to "escriban": an. Private to "escribió": ó.
"escriban" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC · "escribió" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- escriban ← ecsriban · esccriban · escirban · escrbian · escriabn · escribann · escribban · escribna
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "escriban" for "escribió" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "escriban" or "escribió" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "escriban" and "escribió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "escriban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "escribió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #262,630 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "escriban" and "escribió" 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 #262,630 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.