metíanvsmetióTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,394
“metían” frequency rank
#5,534
“metió” frequency rank
45928
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature metían metió
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de meter o de meterse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de meter o de meterse.

Where the eye mixes metían and metió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. metían runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against metió's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
metían
5 ch
metió

Visual trap between metían and metió

A purely visual mix-up. metían ([meˈt̪iãn]) and metió ([meˈt̪jo]) 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 45928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

metían is recorded at frequency rank #40,394, classified as averb, pronounced [meˈt̪iãn]. metió is at rank #5,534, tagged as averb, pronounced [meˈt̪jo].

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 45928, this pair ranks #128,659 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of metían vs metió

Shared letters: emt. Private to "metían": aní. Private to "metió": ió.

"metían" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "metió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "metían" and "metió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([meˈt̪iãn] versus [meˈt̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "metían" or "metió" show up more?
"metió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,534 in our Spanish list, against #40,394 for "metían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "metían" and "metió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "metían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "metió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,659 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "metían" and "metió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "medial vs metían". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #128,659 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