existióvsexistoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,984
“existió” frequency rank
#26,441
“existo” frequency rank
36425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature existió existo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de existir. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de existir.

Where the eye mixes existió and existo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. existió runs 7 letters (VCVCCVV) against existo's 6 (VCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
existió
6 ch
existo

Look-alike desk: existió vs existo

A purely visual mix-up. existió ([eksisˈt̪jo]) and existo ([ekˈsist̪o]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

existió is recorded at frequency rank #9,984, classified as averb, pronounced [eksisˈt̪jo]. existo is at rank #26,441, tagged as averb, pronounced [ekˈsist̪o].

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 36425, this pair ranks #180,670 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of existió vs existo

Shared letters: eistx. Private to "existió": ó. Private to "existo": o.

"existió" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV  ·  "existo" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • existo ← eixsto · exisot · exissto · existto · exitso · exsito · exxisto · xeisto

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "existió" and "existo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([eksisˈt̪jo] versus [ekˈsist̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "existió" or "existo"?
"existió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,984 in our Spanish list, against #26,441 for "existo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "existió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "existo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #180,670 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "existió" and "existo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "existo vs exit". 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 #180,670 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