correnvscorrióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,278
“corren” frequency rank
#8,499
“corrió” frequency rank
15777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corren corrió
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de correr o de correrse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de correr o de correrse.

Where the eye mixes corren and corrió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
corren
6 ch
corrió

Look-alike desk: corren vs corrió

A purely visual mix-up. corren ([ˈkorẽn]) and corrió ([koˈrjo]) 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 15777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corren is recorded at frequency rank #7,278, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkorẽn]. corrió is at rank #8,499, tagged as averb, pronounced [koˈrjo].

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 15777, this pair ranks #278,823 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of corren vs corrió

Shared letters: cor. Private to "corren": en. Private to "corrió": .

"corren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "corrió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • correnccorren · coren · corern · correnn · corrne · croren · ocrren

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corren" and "corrió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkorẽn] versus [koˈrjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "corren" or "corrió" show up more?
"corren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,278 in our Spanish list, against #8,499 for "corrió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "corren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "corrió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #278,823 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corren" and "corrió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cirio vs corrió". 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 #278,823 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