escondervsescondíaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,994
“esconder” frequency rank
#27,595
“escondía” frequency rank
35589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature esconder escondía
Definition Ocultar, apartar de la vista con algún fin. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de esconder.

Where the eye mixes esconder and escondía

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

8 ch
esconder
8 ch
escondía

Visual trap between esconder and escondía

A purely visual mix-up. esconder ([eskõn̪ˈd̪eɾ]) 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 35589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

esconder is recorded at frequency rank #7,994, classified as averb, pronounced [eskõn̪ˈd̪eɾ]. 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 35589, this pair ranks #185,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of esconder vs escondía

Shared letters: cdenos. Private to "esconder": r. Private to "escondía": aí.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • esconder ← ecsonder · escconder · escnoder · escodner · escondder · esconderr · escondre · esconedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "esconder" and "escondía" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([eskõn̪ˈd̪eɾ] versus [eskõn̪ˈd̪ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "esconder" or "escondía" show up more?
"esconder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,994 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 "esconder" and "escondía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "esconder" 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 #185,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "esconder" 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 #185,258 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