dependervsdependíaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,368
“depender” frequency rank
#18,784
“dependía” frequency rank
27152
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature depender dependía
Definition Tener subordinación; estar bajo las órdenes o decisiones de una autoridad o gobierno. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de depender.

Where the eye mixes depender and dependía

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

8 ch
depender
8 ch
dependía

Visual trap between depender and dependía

A purely visual mix-up. depender ([d̪epẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]) and dependía ([d̪epẽn̪ˈd̪ia]) 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 27152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

depender is recorded at frequency rank #8,368, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪epẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]. dependía is at rank #18,784, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪epẽn̪ˈd̪ia].

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 27152, this pair ranks #228,218 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of depender vs dependía

Shared letters: denp. Private to "depender": r. Private to "dependía": aí.

"depender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "dependía" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • depender ← ddepender · deepnder · depedner · dependder · dependerr · dependre · depenedr · depennder

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "depender" and "dependía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪epẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ] versus [d̪epẽn̪ˈd̪ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "depender" or "dependía"?
"depender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,368 in our Spanish list, against #18,784 for "dependía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "depender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dependía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #228,218 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "depender" and "dependía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dependan vs dependía". 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 #228,218 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