yacenvsyacíaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,039
“yacen” frequency rank
#36,880
“yacía” frequency rank
68919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature yacen yacía
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de yacer. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de yacer.

Where the eye mixes yacen and yacía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. yacen (VVCVC) and yacía (VVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
yacen
5 ch
yacía

Look-alike desk: yacen vs yacía

A purely visual mix-up. yacen ([ˈʝasẽn]) and yacía ([ʝaˈsia]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

yacen is recorded at frequency rank #32,039, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʝasẽn]. yacía is at rank #36,880, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʝaˈsia].

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 68919, this pair ranks #33,316 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of yacen vs yacía

Shared letters: acy. Private to "yacen": en. Private to "yacía": í.

"yacen" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "yacía" · 5 letters · shape VVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • yacen ← aycen · yaccen · yacenn · yacne · yaecn · yasen · ycaen · yyacen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "yacen" and "yacía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʝasẽn] versus [ʝaˈsia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "yacen" vs "yacía" - which ranks higher?
"yacen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,039 in our Spanish list, against #36,880 for "yacía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "yacen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "yacía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,316 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "yacen" and "yacía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "yacía vs yaya". 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 #33,316 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