exigevsexigenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,630
“exige” frequency rank
#6,301
“exigen” frequency rank
9931
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exige exigen
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de exigir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de exigir.

Where the eye mixes exige and exigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
exige
6 ch
exigen

Why the eye confuses exige with exigen

A purely visual mix-up. exige ([ekˈsixe]) and exigen ([ekˈsixẽn]) 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) - “exige” sits inside “exigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exige is recorded at frequency rank #3,630, classified as averb, pronounced [ekˈsixe]. exigen is at rank #6,301, tagged as averb, pronounced [ekˈsixẽn].

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 9931, this pair ranks #300,371 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of exige vs exigen

Shared letters: egix. Private to "exige": -. Private to "exigen": n.

"exige" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "exigen" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exigeeixge · exgie · exieg · exigge · exxige · xeige
  • exigeneixgen · exgien · exiegn · exigenn · exiggen · exigne · exxigen · xeigen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "exige" for "exigen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ekˈsixe] versus [ekˈsixẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "exige" or "exigen" show up more?
"exige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,630 in our Spanish list, against #6,301 for "exigen". 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 "exige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #300,371 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exige" and "exigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exige vs exit". 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 #300,371 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