escondenvsescondíaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,599
“esconden” frequency rank
#27,595
“escondía” frequency rank
40194
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature esconden escondía
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de esconder. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de esconder.

Where the eye mixes esconden and escondía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. esconden (VCCVCCVC) and escondía (VCCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
esconden
8 ch
escondía

Why the eye confuses esconden with escondía

A purely visual mix-up. esconden ([esˈkõn̪d̪ẽn]) and escondía ([eskõn̪ˈd̪ia]) 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 40194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

esconden is recorded at frequency rank #12,599, classified as averb, pronounced [esˈkõn̪d̪ẽn]. escondía is at rank #27,595, tagged as averb, pronounced [eskõn̪ˈd̪ia].

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 40194, this pair ranks #160,404 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of esconden vs escondía

Shared letters: cdenos. Private to "esconden": -. Private to "escondía": aí.

"esconden" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "escondía" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • esconden ← ecsonden · escconden · escnoden · escodnen · escondden · escondenn · escondne · esconedn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "esconden" and "escondía" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([esˈkõn̪d̪ẽn] versus [eskõn̪ˈd̪ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "esconden" vs "escondía" - which ranks higher?
"esconden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,599 in our Spanish list, against #27,595 for "escondía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "esconden" and "escondía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "esconden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escondía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,404 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "esconden" and "escondía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escondía vs escondían". 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 #160,404 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