juevsjuegaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: jue is a intj, juega is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“jue” is an intj and “juega” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,117
“jue” frequency rank
#2,032
“juega” frequency rank
37149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jue juega
Definition Variante de pue (refuerzo al final de frase). Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de jugar o de jugarse.

Where the eye mixes jue and juega

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. jue runs 3 letters (CVV) against juega's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
jue
5 ch
juega

Visual trap between jue and juega

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jue is [ˈxwe] while juega is [ˈxweɣ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “jue” sits inside “juega”, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jue is recorded at frequency rank #35,117, classified as anintj, pronounced [ˈxwe]. juega is at rank #2,032, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈxweɣ̞a].

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 37149, this pair ranks #176,837 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of jue vs juega

Shared letters: eju. Private to "jue": -. Private to "juega": ag.

"jue" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "juega" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • juega ← jeuga · jjuega · jueag · juegga · jugea · ujega

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "jue" for "juega" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jue" is an intj and "juega" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "jue" or "juega"?
"juega" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,032 in our Spanish list, against #35,117 for "jue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "jue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "juega" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,837 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "jue" and "juega" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "JAL vs jue". 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 #176,837 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