mantenganvsmanteníaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,447
“mantengan” frequency rank
#10,023
“mantenía” frequency rank
21470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mantengan mantenía
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de mantener o de mantenerse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de mantener o de mantenerse.

Where the eye mixes mantengan and mantenía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mantengan runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against mantenía's 8 (CVCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
mantengan
8 ch
mantenía

Look-alike desk: mantengan vs mantenía

A purely visual mix-up. mantengan ([mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgãn]) and mantenía ([mãn̪t̪eˈnia]) 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 21470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mantengan is recorded at frequency rank #11,447, classified as averb, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgãn]. mantenía is at rank #10,023, tagged as averb, pronounced [mãn̪t̪eˈnia].

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 21470, this pair ranks #254,803 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mantengan vs mantenía

Shared letters: aemnt. Private to "mantengan": g. Private to "mantenía": í.

"mantengan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "mantenía" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mantenganamntengan · manetngan · manntengan · mantegnan · mantenagn · mantengann · mantenggan · mantengna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mantengan" and "mantenía" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mãn̪ˈt̪ẽŋgãn] versus [mãn̪t̪eˈnia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mantengan" vs "mantenía" - which ranks higher?
"mantenía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,023 in our Spanish list, against #11,447 for "mantengan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mantengan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mantenía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,803 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mantengan" and "mantenía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mantengan vs manténganse". 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 #254,803 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