Which to use
“impedían” and “impidan” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,410
- “impedían” frequency rank
- #29,689
- “impidan” frequency rank
- 71099
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | impedían | impidan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de impedir. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de impedir. |
Where the eye mixes impedían and impidan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. impedían runs 8 letters (VCCVCVVC) against impidan's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between impedían and impidan
A purely visual mix-up. impedían ([ĩmpeˈð̞iãn]) and impidan ([ĩmˈpið̞ãn]) 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 71099, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
impedían is recorded at frequency rank #41,410, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmpeˈð̞iãn]. impidan is at rank #29,689, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmˈpið̞ãn].
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 71099, this pair ranks #28,240 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of impedían vs impidan
Shared letters: adimnp. Private to "impedían": eí. Private to "impidan": -.
"impedían" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "impidan" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- impidan ← imipdan · immpidan · impdian · impiadn · impidann · impiddan · impidna · imppidan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "impedían" for "impidan" ever safe?
Which is more common, "impedían" or "impidan"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "impedían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "impidan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #28,240 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "impedían" and "impidan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "impedían vs impedirá". 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 #28,240 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.