defendíanvsdefendidoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,461
“defendían” frequency rank
#10,123
“defendido” frequency rank
34584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature defendían defendido
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de defender o de defenderse. Participio de defender o de defenderse.

Where the eye mixes defendían and defendido

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

9 ch
defendían
9 ch
defendido

Visual trap between defendían and defendido

A purely visual mix-up. defendían ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪iãn]) and defendido ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ið̞o]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

defendían is recorded at frequency rank #24,461, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪iãn]. defendido is at rank #10,123, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ið̞o].

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 34584, this pair ranks #190,618 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of defendían vs defendido

Shared letters: defn. Private to "defendían": aí. Private to "defendido": io.

"defendían" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC  ·  "defendido" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • defendido ← ddefendido · deefndido · defednido · defenddido · defenddio · defendiddo · defendiod · defeniddo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "defendían" and "defendido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪iãn] versus [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "defendían" or "defendido" show up more?
"defendido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,123 in our Spanish list, against #24,461 for "defendían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "defendían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "defendido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #190,618 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "defendían" and "defendido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defendían vs dependan". 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 #190,618 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