Which to use
“mantener” and “mantienen” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #827
- “mantener” frequency rank
- #4,021
- “mantienen” frequency rank
- 4848
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mantener | mantienen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Proveer a alguien de sustento, en especial alimentario o económico | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de mantener o de mantenerse. |
Where the eye mixes mantener and mantienen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mantener runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against mantienen's 9 (CVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: mantener vs mantienen
A purely visual mix-up. mantener ([mãn̪t̪eˈneɾ]) and mantienen ([mãn̪ˈt̪jenẽn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mantener is recorded at frequency rank #827, classified as averb, pronounced [mãn̪t̪eˈneɾ]. mantienen is at rank #4,021, tagged as averb, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪jenẽn].
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 4848, this pair ranks #315,102 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mantener vs mantienen
Shared letters: aemnt. Private to "mantener": r. Private to "mantienen": i.
"mantener" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "mantienen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mantener" and "mantienen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mantener" or "mantienen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mantener" and "mantienen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mantener" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mantienen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,102 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mantener" and "mantienen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manteles vs mantener". 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 #315,102 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.