partíanvspartirTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,847
“partían” frequency rank
#579
“partir” frequency rank
50426
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature partían partir
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de partir o de partirse. Hacer divisiones en un todo, de tal modo de separarlo en partes.

Where the eye mixes partían and partir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. partían runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against partir's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
partían
6 ch
partir

Why the eye confuses partían with partir

A purely visual mix-up. partían ([paɾˈt̪iãn]) and partir ([paɾˈt̪iɾ]) 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 50426, 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]. partir is at rank #579, tagged as averb, pronounced [paɾˈt̪iɾ].

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 50426, this pair ranks #103,269 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of partían vs partir

Shared letters: aprt. Private to "partían": ní. Private to "partir": i.

"partían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "partir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partir ← aprtir · paritr · parrtir · partirr · partri · parttir · patrir · ppartir

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "partían" for "partir" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paɾˈt̪iãn] versus [paɾˈt̪iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "partían" or "partir"?
"partir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #579 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "partían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "partir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #103,269 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "partían" and "partir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partían vs patín". 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 #103,269 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