encontrévsencontróTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,164
“encontré” frequency rank
#1,982
“encontró” frequency rank
4146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encontré encontró
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de encontrar o de encontrarse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de encontrar o de encontrarse.

Where the eye mixes encontré and encontró

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. encontré and encontró follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
encontré
8 ch
encontró

Visual trap between encontré and encontró

A purely visual mix-up. encontré ([ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾe]) and encontró ([ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾo]) 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 a single letter - é in “encontré” becomes ó in “encontró”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encontré is recorded at frequency rank #2,164, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾe]. encontró is at rank #1,982, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾo].

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 4146, this pair ranks #316,770 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of encontré vs encontró

Shared letters: cenort. Private to "encontré": é. Private to "encontró": ó.

"encontré" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV  ·  "encontró" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "encontré" and "encontró" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾe] versus [ẽŋkõn̪ˈt̪ɾo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "encontré" vs "encontró" - which ranks higher?
"encontró" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,982 in our Spanish list, against #2,164 for "encontré". 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 "encontré" and "encontró" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "encontré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "encontró" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #316,770 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encontré" and "encontró" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encontrás vs encontré". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #316,770 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