defendívsdefendióTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,842
“defendí” frequency rank
#8,507
“defendió” frequency rank
50349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature defendí defendió
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de defender o de defenderse. 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 defendí and defendió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. defendí runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against defendió's 8 (CVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
defendí
8 ch
defendió

Visual trap between defendí and defendió

A purely visual mix-up. defendí ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪i]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

defendí is recorded at frequency rank #41,842, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪i]. 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 50349, this pair ranks #103,684 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of defendí vs defendió

Shared letters: defn. Private to "defendí": í. Private to "defendió": ió.

"defendí" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "defendió" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "defendí" and "defendió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪i] versus [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "defendí" or "defendió" show up more?
"defendió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,507 in our Spanish list, against #41,842 for "defendí". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "defendí" 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 #103,684 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "defendí" and "defendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defendí vs defense". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #103,684 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