nieganvsniegueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,161
“niegan” frequency rank
#22,789
“niegue” frequency rank
31950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature niegan niegue
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de negar o de negarse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de negar o de negarse.

Where the eye mixes niegan and niegue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. niegan (CVVCVC) and niegue (CVVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
niegan
6 ch
niegue

Look-alike desk: niegan vs niegue

A purely visual mix-up. niegan ([ˈnjeɣ̞ãn]) and niegue ([ˈnjeɣ̞e]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

niegan is recorded at frequency rank #9,161, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnjeɣ̞ãn]. niegue is at rank #22,789, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnjeɣ̞e].

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 31950, this pair ranks #204,472 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of niegan vs niegue

Shared letters: egin. Private to "niegan": a. Private to "niegue": u.

"niegan" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "niegue" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • niegan ← inegan · neigan · nieagn · niegann · nieggan · niegna · nigean · nniegan
  • niegue ← inegue · neigue · niegeu · nieggue · nieuge · nigeue · nniegue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "niegan" for "niegue" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnjeɣ̞ãn] versus [ˈnjeɣ̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "niegan" or "niegue"?
"niegan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,161 in our Spanish list, against #22,789 for "niegue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "niegan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "niegue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,472 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "niegan" and "niegue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "niegue vs niegues". 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 #204,472 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