requeríanvsrequerirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,647
“requerían” frequency rank
#14,945
“requerir” frequency rank
45592
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature requerían requerir
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de requerir. Intimar, avisar o hacer saber una cosa con autoridad pública.

Where the eye mixes requerían and requerir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. requerían runs 9 letters (CVCVVCVVC) against requerir's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
requerían
8 ch
requerir

Why the eye confuses requerían with requerir

A purely visual mix-up. requerían ([rekeˈɾiãn]) and requerir ([rekeˈɾiɾ]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45592, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

requerían is recorded at frequency rank #30,647, classified as averb, pronounced [rekeˈɾiãn]. requerir is at rank #14,945, tagged as averb, pronounced [rekeˈɾiɾ].

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 45592, this pair ranks #130,542 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of requerían vs requerir

Shared letters: eqru. Private to "requerían": aní. Private to "requerir": i.

"requerían" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVVC  ·  "requerir" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • requerir ← erquerir · reqeurir · reqquerir · requeirr · requerirr · requerri · requerrir · requreir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "requerían" and "requerir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([rekeˈɾiãn] versus [rekeˈɾiɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "requerían" vs "requerir" - which ranks higher?
"requerir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,945 in our Spanish list, against #30,647 for "requerían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "requerían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "requerir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #130,542 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "requerían" and "requerir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "referían vs requerían". 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 #130,542 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