percibíavspercibióConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#40,455
“percibía” frequency rank
#33,766
“percibió” frequency rank
74221
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature percibía percibió
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto 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 percibía and percibió

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

8 ch
percibía
8 ch
percibió

Visual trap between percibía and percibió

A purely visual mix-up. percibía ([peɾsiˈβ̞ia]) 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 74221, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

percibía is recorded at frequency rank #40,455, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾsiˈβ̞ia]. 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 74221, this pair ranks #21,710 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of percibía vs percibió

Shared letters: bceipr. Private to "percibía": . Private to "percibió": ó.

"percibía" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "percibió" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "percibía" for "percibió" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾsiˈβ̞ia] versus [peɾsiˈβ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "percibía" vs "percibió" - which ranks higher?
"percibió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,766 in our Spanish list, against #40,455 for "percibía". 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 "percibía" and "percibió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "percibía" 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 #21,710 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "percibía" and "percibió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perciba vs percibía". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #21,710 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