escondíavsescondíanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,595
“escondía” frequency rank
#45,306
“escondían” frequency rank
72901
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes escondía and escondían

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

8 ch
escondía
9 ch
escondían

Why the eye confuses escondía with escondían

A purely visual mix-up. escondía ([eskõn̪ˈd̪ia]) and escondían ([eskõn̪ˈd̪iãn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “escondía” sits inside “escondían”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72901, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escondía is recorded at frequency rank #27,595, classified as averb, pronounced [eskõn̪ˈd̪ia]. escondían is at rank #45,306, tagged as averb, pronounced [eskõn̪ˈd̪iãn].

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 72901, this pair ranks #24,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of escondía vs escondían

Shared letters: acdenosí. Private to "escondía": -. Private to "escondían": -.

"escondía" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV  ·  "escondían" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "escondía" and "escondían" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([eskõn̪ˈd̪ia] versus [eskõn̪ˈd̪iãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "escondía" or "escondían"?
"escondía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,595 in our Spanish list, against #45,306 for "escondían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "escondía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escondían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escondía" and "escondían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "esconda vs escondían". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #24,417 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