exhibenvsexhibirConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,671
“exhiben” frequency rank
#18,829
“exhibir” frequency rank
40500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exhiben exhibir
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de exhibir o de exhibirse. Hacer visible o manifiesto; mostrar, especialmente de modo público.

Where the eye mixes exhiben and exhibir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. exhiben and exhibir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
exhiben
7 ch
exhibir

Look-alike desk: exhiben vs exhibir

A purely visual mix-up. exhiben ([eksˈiβ̞ẽn]) and exhibir ([eksiˈβ̞iɾ]) 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 40500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exhiben is recorded at frequency rank #21,671, classified as averb, pronounced [eksˈiβ̞ẽn]. exhibir is at rank #18,829, tagged as averb, pronounced [eksiˈβ̞iɾ].

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 40500, this pair ranks #158,745 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exhiben vs exhibir

Shared letters: behix. Private to "exhiben": n. Private to "exhibir": r.

"exhiben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "exhibir" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exhiben ← ehxiben · exhbien · exhhiben · exhibben · exhibenn · exhibne · exhiebn · exhiven
  • exhibir ← ehxibir · exhbiir · exhhibir · exhibbir · exhibirr · exhibri · exhiibr · exhivir

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "exhiben" for "exhibir" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([eksˈiβ̞ẽn] versus [eksiˈβ̞iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "exhiben" or "exhibir"?
"exhibir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,829 in our Spanish list, against #21,671 for "exhiben". 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 "exhiben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exhibir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #158,745 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exhiben" and "exhibir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exhibida vs exhibir". 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 #158,745 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