conducíanvsconducidoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,353
“conducían” frequency rank
#9,603
“conducido” frequency rank
51956
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conducían conducido
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de conducir o de conducirse. Participio de conducir o de conducirse.

Where the eye mixes conducían and conducido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. conducían (CVCCVCVVC) and conducido (CVCCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
conducían
9 ch
conducido

Visual trap between conducían and conducido

A purely visual mix-up. conducían ([kõn̪d̪uˈsiãn]) and conducido ([kõn̪d̪uˈsið̞o]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conducían is recorded at frequency rank #42,353, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪d̪uˈsiãn]. conducido is at rank #9,603, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪d̪uˈsið̞o].

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 51956, this pair ranks #95,165 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of conducían vs conducido

Shared letters: cdnou. Private to "conducían": . Private to "conducido": i.

"conducían" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "conducido" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • conducidocconducido · cnoducido · codnucido · condcuido · condducido · conduccido · conducdio · conduciddo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "conducían" and "conducido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪d̪uˈsiãn] versus [kõn̪d̪uˈsið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "conducían" vs "conducido" - which ranks higher?
"conducido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,603 in our Spanish list, against #42,353 for "conducían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "conducían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "conducido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,165 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conducían" and "conducido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conducían vs consumían". 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 #95,165 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