padecevspadecióConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,211
“padece” frequency rank
#35,662
“padeció” frequency rank
47873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature padece padeció
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de padecer. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de padecer.

Where the eye mixes padece and padeció

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. padece runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against padeció's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
padece
7 ch
padeció

Visual trap between padece and padeció

A purely visual mix-up. padece ([paˈð̞ese]) and padeció ([pað̞eˈsjo]) 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 47873, 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]. padeció is at rank #35,662, tagged as averb, pronounced [pað̞eˈsjo].

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 47873, this pair ranks #117,604 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of padece vs padeció

Shared letters: acdep. Private to "padece": -. Private to "padeció": ió.

"padece" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "padeció" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • padece ← apdece · padcee · paddece · padecce · padeec · padese · paedce · pdaece

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "padece" and "padeció" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([paˈð̞ese] versus [pað̞eˈsjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "padece" vs "padeció" - which ranks higher?
"padece" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,211 in our Spanish list, against #35,662 for "padeció". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "padece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "padeció" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #117,604 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "padece" and "padeció" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "padecido 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 #117,604 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