partíanvspartidoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: partían is a verb, partido is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“partían” is a verb and “partido” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,847
“partían” frequency rank
#206
“partido” frequency rank
50053
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature partían partido
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de partir o de partirse. Que no muestra reparos ni retaceos en compartir sus bienes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set partían and partido apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
partían
7 ch
partido

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: partían is [paɾˈt̪iãn] while partido is [paɾˈt̪ið̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50053, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

partían is recorded at frequency rank #49,847, classified as averb, pronounced [paɾˈt̪iãn]. partido is at rank #206, tagged as anadj, pronounced [paɾˈt̪ið̞o].

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 50053, this pair ranks #105,352 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of partían vs partido

Shared letters: aprt. Private to "partían": . Private to "partido": dio.

"partían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "partido" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partidoaprtido · paritdo · parrtido · partdio · partiddo · partiod · parttido · patrido

Frequency comparison

partían#49,847
partido#206

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "partían" and "partido" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "partían" is a verb and "partido" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "partían" or "partido"?
"partido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #206 in our Spanish list, against #49,847 for "partían". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering partían vs partido

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “partían”; for an adjective, it's “partido”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “partían” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list