Which to use
“desaparece” and “desaparecía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,283
- “desaparece” frequency rank
- #39,688
- “desaparecía” frequency rank
- 45971
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desaparece | desaparecía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de desaparecer o de desaparecerse. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de desaparecer o de desaparecerse. |
Where the eye mixes desaparece and desaparecía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. desaparece runs 10 letters (CVCVCVCVCV) against desaparecía's 11 (CVCVCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between desaparece and desaparecía
A purely visual mix-up. desaparece ([d̪esapaˈɾese]) and desaparecía ([d̪esapaɾeˈsia]) 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 45971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desaparece is recorded at frequency rank #6,283, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esapaˈɾese]. desaparecía is at rank #39,688, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esapaɾeˈsia].
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 45971, this pair ranks #128,429 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of desaparece vs desaparecía
Shared letters: acdeprs. Private to "desaparece": -. Private to "desaparecía": í.
"desaparece" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV · "desaparecía" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- desaparece ← ddesaparece · deasparece · desaaprece · desapaerce · desaparcee · desaparecce · desapareec · desaparese
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "desaparece" and "desaparecía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "desaparece" or "desaparecía"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "desaparece" and "desaparecía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "desaparece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desaparecía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #128,429 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desaparece" and "desaparecía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desaparecería vs desaparecía". 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 #128,429 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.