fijarvsfijenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,802
“fijar” frequency rank
#39,758
“fijen” frequency rank
48560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fijar fijen
Definition Poner una cosa de tal forma que no se mueva. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de fijar o de fijarse.

Where the eye mixes fijar and fijen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fijar
5 ch
fijen

Why the eye confuses fijar with fijen

A purely visual mix-up. fijar ([fiˈxaɾ]) and fijen ([ˈfixẽn]) 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 48560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fijar is recorded at frequency rank #8,802, classified as averb, pronounced [fiˈxaɾ]. fijen is at rank #39,758, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfixẽn].

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 48560, this pair ranks #113,810 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fijar vs fijen

Shared letters: fij. Private to "fijar": ar. Private to "fijen": en.

"fijar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "fijen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fijarffijar · fiajr · fijarr · fijjar · fijra · fjiar · ifjar
  • fijenffijen · fiejn · fijenn · fijjen · fijne · fjien · ifjen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fijar" for "fijen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fiˈxaɾ] versus [ˈfixẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "fijar" or "fijen" show up more?
"fijar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,802 in our Spanish list, against #39,758 for "fijen". 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 "fijar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fijen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,810 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fijar" and "fijen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fideo vs fijen". 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 #113,810 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