oyenvsoyesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,904
“oyen” frequency rank
#21,091
“oyes” frequency rank
35995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oyen oyes
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de oír. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de oír.

Where the eye mixes oyen and oyes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
oyen
4 ch
oyes

Visual trap between oyen and oyes

A purely visual mix-up. oyen ([ˈoʝẽn]) and oyes ([ˈoʝes]) 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 a single letter - n in “oyen” becomes s in “oyes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oyen is recorded at frequency rank #14,904, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈoʝẽn]. oyes is at rank #21,091, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈoʝes].

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 35995, this pair ranks #183,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of oyen vs oyes

Shared letters: eoy. Private to "oyen": n. Private to "oyes": s.

"oyen" · 4 letters · shape VVVC  ·  "oyes" · 4 letters · shape VVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • oyenoeyn · oyenn · oyne · oyyen · yoen
  • oyesoeys · oyess · oyse · oyyes · yoes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "oyen" for "oyes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoʝẽn] versus [ˈoʝes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "oyen" or "oyes" show up more?
"oyen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,904 in our Spanish list, against #21,091 for "oyes". 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 "oyen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "oyes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #183,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "oyen" and "oyes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "óseas vs oyes". 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 #183,043 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