Which to use
“defendía” and “defendió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,550
- “defendía” frequency rank
- #8,507
- “defendió” frequency rank
- 25057
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defendía | defendió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto 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 defendía and defendió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. defendía and defendió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: defendía vs defendió
A purely visual mix-up. defendía ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ia]) 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 25057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defendía is recorded at frequency rank #16,550, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ia]. 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 25057, this pair ranks #238,202 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of defendía vs defendió
Shared letters: defn. Private to "defendía": aí. Private to "defendió": ió.
"defendía" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "defendió" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "defendía" for "defendió" ever safe?
Which is more common, "defendía" or "defendió"?
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 "defendía" 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 #238,202 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defendía" and "defendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defendía vs detenía". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #238,202 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.