defendíavsdefiendaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,550
“defendía” frequency rank
#18,782
“defienda” frequency rank
35332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature defendía defienda
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de defender o de defenderse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de defender o de defenderse.

Where the eye mixes defendía and defienda

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. defendía (CVCVCCVV) and defienda (CVCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
defendía
8 ch
defienda

Why the eye confuses defendía with defienda

A purely visual mix-up. defendía ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ia]) and defienda ([d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪a]) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35332, 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]. defienda is at rank #18,782, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪a].

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 35332, this pair ranks #186,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of defendía vs defienda

Shared letters: adefn. Private to "defendía": í. Private to "defienda": i.

"defendía" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "defienda" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • defienda ← ddefienda · defeinda · deffienda · defiedna · defienad · defiendda · defiennda · defineda

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "defendía" and "defienda" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ia] versus [d̪eˈfjẽn̪d̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "defendía" vs "defienda" - which ranks higher?
"defendía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,550 in our Spanish list, against #18,782 for "defienda". 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 "defendía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "defienda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "defendía" and "defienda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defendí vs defienda". 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 #186,657 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