Which to use
“participar” and “participé” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,326
- “participar” frequency rank
- #28,494
- “participé” frequency rank
- 29820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | participar | participé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tener uno parte en una cosa o tocarle algo de ella. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de participar. |
Where the eye mixes participar and participé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. participar runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVC) against participé's 9 (CVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses participar with participé
A purely visual mix-up. participar ([paɾt̪isiˈpaɾ]) and participé ([paɾt̪isiˈpe]) 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 29820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
participar is recorded at frequency rank #1,326, classified as averb, pronounced [paɾt̪isiˈpaɾ]. participé is at rank #28,494, tagged as averb, pronounced [paɾt̪isiˈpe].
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 29820, this pair ranks #215,106 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of participar vs participé
Shared letters: aciprt. Private to "participar": -. Private to "participé": é.
"participar" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC · "participé" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- participar ← aprticipar · paritcipar · parrticipar · partciipar · particcipar · particiapr · participarr · particippar
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "participar" and "participé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "participar" or "participé" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "participar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "participé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,106 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "participar" and "participé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "participas vs participé". 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 #215,106 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.