expiróvsexplicóTell them apart

Which to use

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

#47,130
“expiró” frequency rank
#3,321
“explicó” frequency rank
50451
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature expiró explicó
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de expirar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de explicar.

Where the eye mixes expiró and explicó

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

6 ch
expiró
7 ch
explicó

Why the eye confuses expiró with explicó

A purely visual mix-up. expiró ([ekspiˈɾo]) and explicó ([ekspliˈko]) 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 50451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

expiró is recorded at frequency rank #47,130, classified as averb, pronounced [ekspiˈɾo]. explicó is at rank #3,321, tagged as averb, pronounced [ekspliˈko].

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 50451, this pair ranks #103,132 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of expiró vs explicó

Shared letters: eipxó. Private to "expiró": r. Private to "explicó": cl.

"expiró" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "explicó" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "expiró" and "explicó" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ekspiˈɾo] versus [ekspliˈko]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "expiró" or "explicó" show up more?
"explicó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,321 in our Spanish list, against #47,130 for "expiró". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "expiró" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "explicó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #103,132 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "expiró" and "explicó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "expide vs expiró". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #103,132 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