Which to use
“mentía” and “mintió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,337
- “mentía” frequency rank
- #17,210
- “mintió” frequency rank
- 56547
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mentía | mintió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de mentir. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de mentir. |
Where the eye mixes mentía and mintió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mentía and mintió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mentía with mintió
A purely visual mix-up. mentía ([mẽn̪ˈt̪ia]) and mintió ([mĩn̪ˈt̪jo]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56547, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mentía is recorded at frequency rank #39,337, classified as averb, pronounced [mẽn̪ˈt̪ia]. mintió is at rank #17,210, tagged as averb, pronounced [mĩn̪ˈt̪jo].
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 56547, this pair ranks #74,161 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mentía vs mintió
Shared letters: mnt. Private to "mentía": aeí. Private to "mintió": ió.
"mentía" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "mintió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mentía" for "mintió" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mentía" or "mintió"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mentía" and "mintió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mentía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mintió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,161 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mentía" and "mintió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mantis vs mentía". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #74,161 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.