Which to use
“merece” and “merecía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,865
- “merece” frequency rank
- #10,028
- “merecía” frequency rank
- 11893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | merece | merecía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de merecer o de merecerse. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de merecer o de merecerse. |
Where the eye mixes merece and merecía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses merece with merecía
A purely visual mix-up. merece ([meˈɾese]) and merecía ([meɾeˈsia]) 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 11893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
merece is recorded at frequency rank #1,865, classified as averb, pronounced [meˈɾese]. merecía is at rank #10,028, tagged as averb, pronounced [meɾeˈsia].
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 11893, this pair ranks #293,485 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of merece vs merecía
Shared letters: cemr. Private to "merece": -. Private to "merecía": aí.
"merece" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "merecía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- merece ← emrece · meerce · mercee · merecce · mereec · merese · merrece · mmerece
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "merece" for "merecía" ever safe?
Frequency check: "merece" vs "merecía" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "merece" and "merecía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "merece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "merecía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,485 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "merece" and "merecía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "merecía vs merecías". 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 #293,485 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.