Which to use
“existan” and “existió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,453
- “existan” frequency rank
- #9,984
- “existió” frequency rank
- 19437
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | existan | existió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de existir. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de existir. |
Where the eye mixes existan and existió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: existan vs existió
A purely visual mix-up. existan ([ekˈsist̪ãn]) and existió ([eksisˈt̪jo]) 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 19437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
existan is recorded at frequency rank #9,453, classified as averb, pronounced [ekˈsist̪ãn]. existió is at rank #9,984, tagged as averb, pronounced [eksisˈt̪jo].
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 19437, this pair ranks #263,760 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of existan vs existió
Shared letters: eistx. Private to "existan": an. Private to "existió": ó.
"existan" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "existió" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- existan ← eixstan · exisatn · exisstan · existann · existna · existtan · exitsan · exsitan
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "existan" and "existió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "existan" or "existió"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "existan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "existió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #263,760 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "existan" and "existió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "excitan vs existan". 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 #263,760 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.