obteníavsobtenidoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,025
“obtenía” frequency rank
#4,360
“obtenido” frequency rank
35385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obtenía obtenido
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de obtener. Participio de obtener.

Where the eye mixes obtenía and obtenido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. obtenía runs 7 letters (VCCVCVV) against obtenido's 8 (VCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
obtenía
8 ch
obtenido

Why the eye confuses obtenía with obtenido

A purely visual mix-up. obtenía ([oβ̞t̪eˈnia]) and obtenido ([oβ̞t̪eˈnið̞o]) 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 35385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

obtenía is recorded at frequency rank #31,025, classified as averb, pronounced [oβ̞t̪eˈnia]. obtenido is at rank #4,360, tagged as averb, pronounced [oβ̞t̪eˈnið̞o].

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 35385, this pair ranks #186,384 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of obtenía vs obtenido

Shared letters: benot. Private to "obtenía": aí. Private to "obtenido": di.

"obtenía" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "obtenido" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obtenido ← botenido · obbtenido · obetnido · obteindo · obtendio · obteniddo · obteniod · obtennido

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "obtenía" for "obtenido" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([oβ̞t̪eˈnia] versus [oβ̞t̪eˈnið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "obtenía" vs "obtenido" - which ranks higher?
"obtenido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,360 in our Spanish list, against #31,025 for "obtenía". 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 "obtenía" and "obtenido" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "obtenía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "obtenido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,384 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "obtenía" and "obtenido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obtenía vs obtenían". 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 #186,384 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