muestravsmuestrenTell them apart

Quick tell: muestra is a noun, muestren is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“muestra” is a noun and “muestren” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#751
“muestra” frequency rank
#16,649
“muestren” frequency rank
17400
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature muestra muestren
Definition Acción o efecto de exhibir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de mostrar.

Where the eye mixes muestra and muestren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. muestra runs 7 letters (CVVCCCV) against muestren's 8 (CVVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
muestra
8 ch
muestren

Visual trap between muestra and muestren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: muestra is [ˈmwest̪ɾa] while muestren is [ˈmwest̪ɾẽn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

muestra is recorded at frequency rank #751, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmwest̪ɾa]. muestren is at rank #16,649, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmwest̪ɾẽn].

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 17400, this pair ranks #272,267 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of muestra vs muestren

Shared letters: emrstu. Private to "muestra": a. Private to "muestren": n.

"muestra" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV  ·  "muestren" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • muestrameustra · mmuestra · muesrta · muesstra · muestar · muestrra · muesttra · muetsra
  • muestrenmeustren · mmuestren · muesrten · muesstren · muestern · muestrenn · muestrne · muestrren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "muestra" and "muestren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "muestra" is a noun and "muestren" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "muestra" or "muestren" show up more?
"muestra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #751 in our Spanish list, against #16,649 for "muestren". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "muestra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "muestren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #272,267 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "muestra" and "muestren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "muestren vs muestres". 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 #272,267 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