pendientevspendientesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,505
“pendiente” frequency rank
#4,818
“pendientes” frequency rank
8323
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pendiente pendientes
Definition Que pende, que cuelga. Forma del plural de pendiente.

Where the eye mixes pendiente and pendientes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
pendiente
10 ch
pendientes

Look-alike desk: pendiente vs pendientes

A purely visual mix-up. pendiente ([pẽn̪ˈd̪jẽn̪t̪e]) and pendientes ([pẽn̪ˈd̪jẽn̪t̪es]) 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) - “pendiente” sits inside “pendientes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8323, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pendiente is recorded at frequency rank #3,505, classified as anadj, pronounced [pẽn̪ˈd̪jẽn̪t̪e]. pendientes is at rank #4,818, tagged as anadj, pronounced [pẽn̪ˈd̪jẽn̪t̪es].

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 8323, this pair ranks #305,350 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pendiente vs pendientes

Shared letters: deinpt. Private to "pendiente": -. Private to "pendientes": s.

"pendiente" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCV  ·  "pendientes" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pendienteepndiente · pedniente · penddiente · pendeinte · pendienet · pendiennte · pendientte · pendietne
  • pendientesepndientes · pednientes · penddientes · pendeintes · pendienets · pendienntes · pendientess · pendientse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pendiente" for "pendientes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pẽn̪ˈd̪jẽn̪t̪e] versus [pẽn̪ˈd̪jẽn̪t̪es]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pendiente" or "pendientes"?
"pendiente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,505 in our Spanish list, against #4,818 for "pendientes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pendiente" and "pendientes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pendiente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pendientes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #305,350 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pendiente" and "pendientes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pendientes vs pudientes". 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 #305,350 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