padecenvsparecesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,190
“padecen” frequency rank
#9,868
“pareces” frequency rank
25058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature padecen pareces
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de padecer. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de parecer o de parecerse.

Where the eye mixes padecen and pareces

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. padecen and pareces follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
padecen
7 ch
pareces

Look-alike desk: padecen vs pareces

A purely visual mix-up. padecen ([paˈð̞esẽn]) and pareces ([paˈɾeses]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

padecen is recorded at frequency rank #15,190, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈð̞esẽn]. pareces is at rank #9,868, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈɾeses].

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 25058, this pair ranks #238,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of padecen vs pareces

Shared letters: acep. Private to "padecen": dn. Private to "pareces": rs.

"padecen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "pareces" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • padecenapdecen · padceen · paddecen · padeccen · padecenn · padecne · padeecn · padesen
  • parecesapreces · paerces · parcees · parecces · parecess · parecse · pareecs · pareses

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "padecen" for "pareces" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈð̞esẽn] versus [paˈɾeses]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "padecen" or "pareces"?
"pareces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,868 in our Spanish list, against #15,190 for "padecen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "padecen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pareces" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #238,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "padecen" and "pareces" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parce vs pareces". 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 #238,198 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