percibenvspercibióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,912
“perciben” frequency rank
#33,766
“percibió” frequency rank
48678
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perciben percibió
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de percibir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de percibir.

Where the eye mixes perciben and percibió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. perciben (CVCCVCVC) and percibió (CVCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
perciben
8 ch
percibió

Visual trap between perciben and percibió

A purely visual mix-up. perciben ([peɾˈsiβ̞ẽn]) and percibió ([peɾsiˈβ̞jo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perciben is recorded at frequency rank #14,912, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈsiβ̞ẽn]. percibió is at rank #33,766, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾsiˈβ̞jo].

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 48678, this pair ranks #113,104 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perciben vs percibió

Shared letters: bceipr. Private to "perciben": n. Private to "percibió": ó.

"perciben" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "percibió" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perciben ← eprciben · pecriben · percbien · percciben · percibben · percibenn · percibne · perciebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perciben" and "percibió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈsiβ̞ẽn] versus [peɾsiˈβ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perciben" vs "percibió" - which ranks higher?
"perciben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,912 in our Spanish list, against #33,766 for "percibió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "perciben" and "percibió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perciben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "percibió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,104 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perciben" and "percibió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perciba vs percibió". 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 #113,104 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