percibirvspermitirTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,467
“percibir” frequency rank
#2,411
“permitir” frequency rank
13878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature percibir permitir
Definition Recibir una cosa y entregarse de ella. Dar su consentimiento quien tenga autoridad competente, para que otros hagan de dejen de hacer algo.

Where the eye mixes percibir and permitir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. percibir and permitir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
percibir
8 ch
permitir

Look-alike desk: percibir vs permitir

A purely visual mix-up. percibir ([peɾsiˈβ̞iɾ]) and permitir ([peɾmiˈt̪iɾ]) 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 13878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

percibir is recorded at frequency rank #11,467, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾsiˈβ̞iɾ]. permitir is at rank #2,411, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾmiˈt̪iɾ].

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 13878, this pair ranks #286,213 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of percibir vs permitir

Shared letters: eipr. Private to "percibir": bc. Private to "permitir": mt.

"percibir" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "permitir" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • percibir ← eprcibir · pecribir · percbiir · perccibir · percibbir · percibirr · percibri · perciibr
  • permitir ← eprmitir · pemritir · perimtir · permiitr · permitirr · permitri · permittir · permmitir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "percibir" and "permitir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([peɾsiˈβ̞iɾ] versus [peɾmiˈt̪iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "percibir" or "permitir" show up more?
"permitir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,411 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "percibir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "permitir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #286,213 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "percibir" and "permitir" 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 #286,213 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