muerdenvsmuerenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,727
“muerden” frequency rank
#4,729
“mueren” frequency rank
38456
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature muerden mueren
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de morder. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de morir o de morirse.

Where the eye mixes muerden and mueren

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

7 ch
muerden
6 ch
mueren

Look-alike desk: muerden vs mueren

A purely visual mix-up. muerden ([ˈmweɾð̞ẽn]) and mueren ([ˈmweɾẽn]) 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 38456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

muerden is recorded at frequency rank #33,727, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmweɾð̞ẽn]. mueren is at rank #4,729, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmweɾẽn].

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 38456, this pair ranks #169,910 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of muerden vs mueren

Shared letters: emnru. Private to "muerden": d. Private to "mueren": -.

"muerden" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "mueren" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • muerdenmeurden · mmuerden · muedren · muerdden · muerdenn · muerdne · mueredn · muerrden
  • muerenmeuren · mmueren · mueern · muerenn · muerne · muerren · mureen · umeren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "muerden" for "mueren" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmweɾð̞ẽn] versus [ˈmweɾẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "muerden" or "mueren" show up more?
"mueren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,729 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 "muerden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mueren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,910 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "muerden" and "mueren" 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 #169,910 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