virgenvsvirginTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,323
“virgen” frequency rank
#25,862
“virgin” frequency rank
28185
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature virgen virgin
Definition Persona que no ha tenido relaciones sexuales, o animal que no se ha apareado Virgen.

Where the eye mixes virgen and virgin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. virgen and virgin follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
virgen
6 ch
virgin

Why the eye confuses virgen with virgin

A purely visual mix-up. virgen ([ˈbiɾxẽn]) and virgin (/ˈvɜː.d͡ʒɪn/) 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 - e in “virgen” becomes i in “virgin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

virgen is recorded at frequency rank #2,323, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbiɾxẽn]. virgin is at rank #25,862, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈvɜː.d͡ʒɪn/.

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 28185, this pair ranks #223,208 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of virgen vs virgin

Shared letters: ginrv. Private to "virgen": e. Private to "virgin": -.

"virgen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "virgin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • virgen ← birgen · ivrgen · vigren · viregn · virgenn · virggen · virgne · virrgen
  • virgin ← birgin · ivrgin · vigrin · virggin · virginn · virgni · virign · virrgin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "virgen" for "virgin" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbiɾxẽn] versus /ˈvɜː.d͡ʒɪn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "virgen" vs "virgin" - which ranks higher?
"virgen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,323 in our Spanish list, against #25,862 for "virgin". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "virgen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "virgin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,208 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "virgen" and "virgin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "virgin vs viril". 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 #223,208 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