discutanvsdiscutirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,258
“discutan” frequency rank
#2,709
“discutir” frequency rank
42967
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature discutan discutir
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de discutir. Expresar puntos de vista diferentes con otra persona

Where the eye mixes discutan and discutir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. discutan and discutir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
discutan
8 ch
discutir

Visual trap between discutan and discutir

A purely visual mix-up. discutan ([d̪isˈkut̪ãn]) and discutir ([d̪iskuˈt̪iɾ]) 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 42967, 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]. discutir is at rank #2,709, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪iskuˈt̪iɾ].

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 42967, this pair ranks #145,263 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of discutan vs discutir

Shared letters: cdistu. Private to "discutan": an. Private to "discutir": r.

"discutan" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "discutir" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • discutan ← ddiscutan · dicsutan · disccutan · disctuan · discuatn · discutann · discutna · discuttan
  • discutir ← ddiscutir · dicsutir · disccutir · disctuir · discuitr · discutirr · discutri · discuttir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "discutan" and "discutir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪isˈkut̪ãn] versus [d̪iskuˈt̪iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "discutan" or "discutir" show up more?
"discutir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,709 in our Spanish list, against #40,258 for "discutan". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "discutan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "discutir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #145,263 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "discutan" and "discutir" 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 #145,263 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