Which to use
“mantener” and “mantienes” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #827
- “mantener” frequency rank
- #27,679
- “mantienes” frequency rank
- 28506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mantener | mantienes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Proveer a alguien de sustento, en especial alimentario o económico | Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de mantener o de mantenerse. |
Where the eye mixes mantener and mantienes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mantener runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against mantienes's 9 (CVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mantener and mantienes
A purely visual mix-up. mantener ([mãn̪t̪eˈneɾ]) and mantienes ([mãn̪ˈt̪jenes]) 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 28506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mantener is recorded at frequency rank #827, classified as averb, pronounced [mãn̪t̪eˈneɾ]. mantienes is at rank #27,679, tagged as averb, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪jenes].
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 28506, this pair ranks #221,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mantener vs mantienes
Shared letters: aemnt. Private to "mantener": r. Private to "mantienes": is.
"mantener" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "mantienes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mantener" and "mantienes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mantener" or "mantienes" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mantener" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mantienes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mantener" and "mantienes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manteles vs mantienes". 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 #221,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.