examinavsexaminarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,136
“examina” frequency rank
#9,638
“examinar” frequency rank
26774
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature examina examinar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de examinar. Inquirir, investigar, escudriñar con diligencia y cuidado una cosa

Where the eye mixes examina and examinar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
examina
8 ch
examinar

Why the eye confuses examina with examinar

A purely visual mix-up. examina ([eksaˈmina]) and examinar ([eksamiˈnaɾ]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “examina” sits inside “examinar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

examina is recorded at frequency rank #17,136, classified as averb, pronounced [eksaˈmina]. examinar is at rank #9,638, tagged as averb, pronounced [eksamiˈnaɾ].

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 26774, this pair ranks #230,014 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of examina vs examinar

Shared letters: aeimnx. Private to "examina": -. Private to "examinar": r.

"examina" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "examinar" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • examinaeaxmina · exaimna · examian · examinna · exammina · examnia · exmaina · exxamina
  • examinareaxminar · exaimnar · examianr · examinarr · examinnar · examinra · examminar · examniar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "examina" for "examinar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([eksaˈmina] versus [eksamiˈnaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "examina" or "examinar"?
"examinar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,638 in our Spanish list, against #17,136 for "examina". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "examina" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "examinar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,014 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "examina" and "examinar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "examina vs examinada". 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 #230,014 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