cumplavscumplíaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,280
“cumpla” frequency rank
#15,823
“cumplía” frequency rank
22103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cumpla cumplía
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de cumplir. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de cumplir.

Where the eye mixes cumpla and cumplía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cumpla runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against cumplía's 7 (CVCCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cumpla
7 ch
cumplía

Look-alike desk: cumpla vs cumplía

A purely visual mix-up. cumpla ([ˈkũmpla]) and cumplía ([kũmˈplia]) 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 22103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cumpla is recorded at frequency rank #6,280, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkũmpla]. cumplía is at rank #15,823, tagged as averb, pronounced [kũmˈplia].

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 22103, this pair ranks #251,906 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cumpla vs cumplía

Shared letters: aclmpu. Private to "cumpla": -. Private to "cumplía": í.

"cumpla" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "cumplía" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cumplaccumpla · cmupla · cumlpa · cummpla · cumpal · cumplla · cumppla · cupmla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cumpla" and "cumplía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkũmpla] versus [kũmˈplia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cumpla" vs "cumplía" - which ranks higher?
"cumpla" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,280 in our Spanish list, against #15,823 for "cumplía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "cumpla" and "cumplía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cumpla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cumplía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #251,906 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cumpla" and "cumplía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cumplía vs cumpliré". 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 #251,906 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