instruirvsintuirTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,098
“instruir” frequency rank
#46,017
“intuir” frequency rank
81115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature instruir intuir
Definition Enseñar, doctrinar. Percibir o conocer una verdad o un concepto de un modo inmediato, íntimo, instantáneo y evidente, como con la visión.

Where the eye mixes instruir and intuir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. instruir runs 8 letters (VCCCCVVC) against intuir's 6 (VCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
instruir
6 ch
intuir

Visual trap between instruir and intuir

A purely visual mix-up. instruir ([ĩnsˈt̪ɾwiɾ]) and intuir ([ĩn̪ˈt̪wiɾ]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

instruir is recorded at frequency rank #35,098, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩnsˈt̪ɾwiɾ]. intuir is at rank #46,017, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈt̪wiɾ].

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 81115, this pair ranks #10,804 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of instruir vs intuir

Shared letters: inrtu. Private to "instruir": s. Private to "intuir": -.

"instruir" · 8 letters · shape VCCCCVVC  ·  "intuir" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • instruir ← innstruir · insrtuir · insstruir · instriur · instrruir · instruirr · instruri · insttruir
  • intuir ← inntuir · intiur · inttuir · intuirr · inturi · inutir · itnuir · nituir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "instruir" and "intuir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩnsˈt̪ɾwiɾ] versus [ĩn̪ˈt̪wiɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "instruir" or "intuir" show up more?
"instruir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,098 in our Spanish list, against #46,017 for "intuir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "instruir" and "intuir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "instruir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intuir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,804 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "instruir" and "intuir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intuir vs intuyo". 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 #10,804 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