pendevspideWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,734
“pende” frequency rank
#1,523
“pide” frequency rank
38257
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pende pide
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pender. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pedir.

Where the eye mixes pende and pide

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pende
4 ch
pide

Why the eye confuses pende with pide

A purely visual mix-up. pende ([ˈpẽn̪d̪e]) and pide ([ˈpið̞e]) 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 38257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pende is recorded at frequency rank #36,734, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpẽn̪d̪e]. pide is at rank #1,523, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpið̞e].

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 38257, this pair ranks #171,004 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pende vs pide

Shared letters: dep. Private to "pende": n. Private to "pide": i.

"pende" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pendeepnde · pedne · pendde · pened · pennde · pnede · ppende
  • pideipde · pdie · pidde · pied · ppide

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pende" and "pide" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpẽn̪d̪e] versus [ˈpið̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pende" or "pide"?
"pide" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,523 in our Spanish list, against #36,734 for "pende". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "pende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,004 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pende" and "pide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pence vs pende". 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 #171,004 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