discutanvsdiscutíanConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#40,258
“discutan” frequency rank
#37,039
“discutían” frequency rank
77297
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature discutan discutían
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de discutir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de discutir.

Where the eye mixes discutan and discutían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. discutan runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against discutían's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
discutan
9 ch
discutían

Look-alike desk: discutan vs discutían

A purely visual mix-up. discutan ([d̪isˈkut̪ãn]) and discutían ([d̪iskuˈt̪iãn]) 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 77297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

discutan is recorded at frequency rank #40,258, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪isˈkut̪ãn]. discutían is at rank #37,039, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪iskuˈt̪iãn].

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 77297, this pair ranks #16,248 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of discutan vs discutían

Shared letters: acdinstu. Private to "discutan": -. Private to "discutían": í.

"discutan" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "discutían" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • discutan ← ddiscutan · dicsutan · disccutan · disctuan · discuatn · discutann · discutna · discuttan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "discutan" for "discutían" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪isˈkut̪ãn] versus [d̪iskuˈt̪iãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "discutan" or "discutían" show up more?
"discutían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,039 in our Spanish list, against #40,258 for "discutan". 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 "discutan" and "discutían" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "discutan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "discutían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,248 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "discutan" and "discutían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "discutan vs discutas". 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 #16,248 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