defendervsdefendióTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,894
“defender” frequency rank
#8,507
“defendió” frequency rank
10401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature defender defendió
Definition Mantener algo o alguien a salvo de un daño o perjuicio. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de defender o de defenderse.

Where the eye mixes defender and defendió

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

8 ch
defender
8 ch
defendió

Visual trap between defender and defendió

A purely visual mix-up. defender ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]) and defendió ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) 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 10401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

defender is recorded at frequency rank #1,894, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]. defendió is at rank #8,507, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪jo].

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 10401, this pair ranks #298,749 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of defender vs defendió

Shared letters: defn. Private to "defender": r. Private to "defendió": ió.

"defender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "defendió" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • defender ← ddefender · deefnder · defedner · defendder · defenderr · defendre · defenedr · defennder

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "defender" and "defendió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ] versus [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "defender" or "defendió"?
"defender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,894 in our Spanish list, against #8,507 for "defendió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "defender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "defendió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #298,749 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "defender" and "defendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defendidos vs defendió". 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 #298,749 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