distinguevsdistinguióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,804
“distingue” frequency rank
#28,338
“distinguió” frequency rank
38142
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature distingue distinguió
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de distinguir o de distinguirse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de distinguir o de distinguirse.

Where the eye mixes distingue and distinguió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. distingue runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVV) against distinguió's 10 (CVCCVCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
distingue
10 ch
distinguió

Visual trap between distingue and distinguió

A purely visual mix-up. distingue ([d̪isˈt̪ĩŋge]) and distinguió ([d̪ist̪ĩŋˈgjo]) 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 38142, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

distingue is recorded at frequency rank #9,804, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪isˈt̪ĩŋge]. distinguió is at rank #28,338, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪ist̪ĩŋˈgjo].

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 38142, this pair ranks #171,610 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of distingue vs distinguió

Shared letters: dginstu. Private to "distingue": e. Private to "distinguió": ó.

"distingue" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV  ·  "distinguió" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • distingue ← ddistingue · disitngue · disstingue · distignue · distingeu · distinggue · distinngue · distinuge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "distingue" and "distinguió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪isˈt̪ĩŋge] versus [d̪ist̪ĩŋˈgjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "distingue" vs "distinguió" - which ranks higher?
"distingue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,804 in our Spanish list, against #28,338 for "distinguió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "distingue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "distinguió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,610 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "distingue" and "distinguió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "distinguía vs distinguió". 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 #171,610 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