Which to use
“compete” and “competía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,712
- “compete” frequency rank
- #47,664
- “competía” frequency rank
- 79376
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | compete | competía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de competer. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de competer. |
Where the eye mixes compete and competía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between compete and competía
A purely visual mix-up. compete ([kõmˈpet̪e]) and competía ([kõmpeˈt̪ia]) 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 79376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
compete is recorded at frequency rank #31,712, classified as averb, pronounced [kõmˈpet̪e]. competía is at rank #47,664, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõmpeˈt̪ia].
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 79376, this pair ranks #13,094 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of compete vs competía
Shared letters: cemopt. Private to "compete": -. Private to "competía": aí.
"compete" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "competía" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- compete ← ccompete · cmopete · comepte · commpete · compeet · compette · comppete · comptee
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "compete" and "competía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "compete" or "competía" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "compete" and "competía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "compete" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "competía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,094 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "compete" and "competía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "competía vs compita". 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 #13,094 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.