exenciónvsextinciónConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,010
“exención” frequency rank
#6,059
“extinción” frequency rank
28069
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exención extinción
Definition Efecto de eximir o eximirse. La acción y el efecto de extinguirse.

Where the eye mixes exención and extinción

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. exención runs 8 letters (VCVCCVVC) against extinción's 9 (VCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
exención
9 ch
extinción

Look-alike desk: exención vs extinción

A purely visual mix-up. exención ([eksẽnˈsjõn]) and extinción ([ekst̪ĩnˈsjõn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exención is recorded at frequency rank #22,010, classified as anoun, pronounced [eksẽnˈsjõn]. extinción is at rank #6,059, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ekst̪ĩnˈsjõn].

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 28069, this pair ranks #223,814 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exención vs extinción

Shared letters: ceinxó. Private to "exención": -. Private to "extinción": t.

"exención" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVVC  ·  "extinción" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "exención" for "extinción" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([eksẽnˈsjõn] versus [ekst̪ĩnˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "exención" or "extinción" show up more?
"extinción" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,059 in our Spanish list, against #22,010 for "exención". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "exención" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extinción" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,814 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exención" and "extinción" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exención vs extension". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #223,814 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