Which to use
“padece” and “padecía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,211
- “padece” frequency rank
- #26,951
- “padecía” frequency rank
- 39162
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | padece | padecía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de padecer. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de padecer. |
Where the eye mixes padece and padecía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. padece runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against padecía's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between padece and padecía
A purely visual mix-up. padece ([paˈð̞ese]) and padecía ([pað̞eˈsia]) 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 39162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
padece is recorded at frequency rank #12,211, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈð̞ese]. padecía is at rank #26,951, tagged as averb, pronounced [pað̞eˈsia].
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 39162, this pair ranks #166,066 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of padece vs padecía
Shared letters: acdep. Private to "padece": -. Private to "padecía": í.
"padece" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "padecía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- padece ← apdece · padcee · paddece · padecce · padeec · padese · paedce · pdaece
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "padece" and "padecía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "padece" or "padecía"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "padece" and "padecía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "padece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "padecía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,066 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "padece" and "padecía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "padecía vs padeció". 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 #166,066 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.