percibevspercibirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,195
“percibe” frequency rank
#11,467
“percibir” frequency rank
21662
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature percibe percibir
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de percibir. Recibir una cosa y entregarse de ella.

Where the eye mixes percibe and percibir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
percibe
8 ch
percibir

Why the eye confuses percibe with percibir

A purely visual mix-up. percibe ([peɾˈsiβ̞e]) and percibir ([peɾsiˈβ̞iɾ]) 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 21662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

percibe is recorded at frequency rank #10,195, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈsiβ̞e]. percibir is at rank #11,467, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾsiˈβ̞iɾ].

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 21662, this pair ranks #253,890 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of percibe vs percibir

Shared letters: bceipr. Private to "percibe": -. Private to "percibir": -.

"percibe" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "percibir" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • percibeeprcibe · pecribe · percbie · perccibe · percibbe · percieb · percive · pericbe
  • percibireprcibir · pecribir · percbiir · perccibir · percibbir · percibirr · percibri · perciibr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "percibe" and "percibir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈsiβ̞e] versus [peɾsiˈβ̞iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "percibe" or "percibir" show up more?
"percibe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,195 in our Spanish list, against #11,467 for "percibir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "percibe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "percibir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,890 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "percibe" and "percibir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perciba vs percibir". 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 #253,890 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