fijabavsfijasTell them apart

Quick tell: fijaba is a verb, fijas is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fijaba” is a verb and “fijas” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,566
“fijaba” frequency rank
#11,779
“fijas” frequency rank
58345
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fijaba fijas
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de fijar o de fijarse. Forma del femenino plural de fijo.

Where the eye mixes fijaba and fijas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fijaba runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against fijas's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fijaba
5 ch
fijas

Why the eye confuses fijaba with fijas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fijaba is [fiˈxaβ̞a] while fijas is [ˈfixas]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58345, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fijaba is recorded at frequency rank #46,566, classified as averb, pronounced [fiˈxaβ̞a]. fijas is at rank #11,779, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfixas].

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 58345, this pair ranks #66,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fijaba vs fijas

Shared letters: afij. Private to "fijaba": b. Private to "fijas": s.

"fijaba" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "fijas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fijaba ← ffijaba · fiajba · fijaab · fijabba · fijava · fijbaa · fijjaba · fjiaba
  • fijas ← ffijas · fiajs · fijass · fijjas · fijsa · fjias · ifjas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fijaba" and "fijas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fijaba" is a verb and "fijas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fijaba" vs "fijas" - which ranks higher?
"fijas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,779 in our Spanish list, against #46,566 for "fijaba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fijaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fijas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fijaba" and "fijas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fijaba vs fijará". 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 #66,795 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