escribenvsescribísWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,661
“escriben” frequency rank
#40,814
“escribís” frequency rank
47475
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escriben escribís
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de escribir o de escribirse. Segunda persona del singular (vos) del presente de indicativo de escribir o de escribirse.

Where the eye mixes escriben and escribís

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. escriben and escribís follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
escriben
8 ch
escribís

Visual trap between escriben and escribís

A purely visual mix-up. escriben ([esˈkɾiβ̞ẽn]) and escribís ([eskɾiˈβ̞is]) 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 47475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escriben is recorded at frequency rank #6,661, classified as averb, pronounced [esˈkɾiβ̞ẽn]. escribís is at rank #40,814, tagged as averb, pronounced [eskɾiˈβ̞is].

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 47475, this pair ranks #119,853 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escriben vs escribís

Shared letters: bceirs. Private to "escriben": n. Private to "escribís": í.

"escriben" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "escribís" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escriben ← ecsriben · esccriben · escirben · escrbien · escribben · escribenn · escribne · escriebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "escriben" and "escribís" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([esˈkɾiβ̞ẽn] versus [eskɾiˈβ̞is]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "escriben" vs "escribís" - which ranks higher?
"escriben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,661 in our Spanish list, against #40,814 for "escribís". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "escriben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escribís" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #119,853 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escriben" and "escribís" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escribirse 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 #119,853 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