muerdevsmuerdenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,909
“muerde” frequency rank
#33,727
“muerden” frequency rank
50636
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature muerde muerden
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de morder. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de morder.

Where the eye mixes muerde and muerden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. muerde runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against muerden's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
muerde
7 ch
muerden

Why the eye confuses muerde with muerden

A purely visual mix-up. muerde ([ˈmweɾð̞e]) and muerden ([ˈmweɾð̞ẽn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “muerde” sits inside “muerden”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

muerde is recorded at frequency rank #16,909, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmweɾð̞e]. muerden is at rank #33,727, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmweɾð̞ẽn].

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 50636, this pair ranks #102,139 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of muerde vs muerden

Shared letters: demru. Private to "muerde": -. Private to "muerden": n.

"muerde" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "muerden" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • muerdemeurde · mmuerde · muedre · muerdde · muered · muerrde · murede · umerde
  • muerdenmeurden · mmuerden · muedren · muerdden · muerdenn · muerdne · mueredn · muerrden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "muerde" for "muerden" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmweɾð̞e] versus [ˈmweɾð̞ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "muerde" or "muerden" show up more?
"muerde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,909 in our Spanish list, against #33,727 for "muerden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "muerde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "muerden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,139 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "muerde" and "muerden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "muerden vs murder". 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 #102,139 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