excluirvsexcluyeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,848
“excluir” frequency rank
#16,097
“excluye” frequency rank
32945
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature excluir excluye
Definition No admitir o sacar a una persona de un grupo de gente, de una sociedad o de otra reunión o agrupación de personas. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de excluir o de excluirse.

Where the eye mixes excluir and excluye

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. excluir (VCCCVVC) and excluye (VCCCVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
excluir
7 ch
excluye

Visual trap between excluir and excluye

A purely visual mix-up. excluir ([eksˈklwiɾ]) and excluye ([eksˈkluʝe]) 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 32945, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

excluir is recorded at frequency rank #16,848, classified as averb, pronounced [eksˈklwiɾ]. excluye is at rank #16,097, tagged as averb, pronounced [eksˈkluʝe].

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 32945, this pair ranks #199,368 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of excluir vs excluye

Shared letters: celux. Private to "excluir": ir. Private to "excluye": y.

"excluir" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVC  ·  "excluye" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • excluirecxluir · exccluir · excliur · exclluir · excluirr · excluri · exculir · exlcuir
  • excluyeecxluye · exccluye · exclluye · excluey · excluyye · exclyue · exculye · exlcuye

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "excluir" for "excluye" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([eksˈklwiɾ] versus [eksˈkluʝe]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "excluir" vs "excluye" - which ranks higher?
"excluye" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,097 in our Spanish list, against #16,848 for "excluir". 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 "excluir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "excluye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #199,368 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "excluir" and "excluye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "excluye vs excluyen". 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 #199,368 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