piensenvspiensesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,811
“piensen” frequency rank
#8,294
“pienses” frequency rank
15105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature piensen pienses
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de pensar. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de pensar.

Where the eye mixes piensen and pienses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
piensen
7 ch
pienses

Why the eye confuses piensen with pienses

A purely visual mix-up. piensen ([ˈpjẽnsẽn]) and pienses ([ˈpjẽnses]) 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 “piensen” becomes s in “pienses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

piensen is recorded at frequency rank #6,811, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpjẽnsẽn]. pienses is at rank #8,294, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpjẽnses].

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 15105, this pair ranks #281,497 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of piensen vs pienses

Shared letters: einps. Private to "piensen": -. Private to "pienses": -.

"piensen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "pienses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • piensenipensen · peinsen · piencen · pienesn · piennsen · piensenn · piensne · pienssen
  • piensesipenses · peinses · piences · pieness · piennses · piensess · piensses · piesnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "piensen" for "pienses" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpjẽnsẽn] versus [ˈpjẽnses]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "piensen" or "pienses"?
"piensen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,811 in our Spanish list, against #8,294 for "pienses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "piensen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pienses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,497 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "piensen" and "pienses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pienses vs piensos". 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 #281,497 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