perdervsperderseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#855
“perder” frequency rank
#11,468
“perderse” frequency rank
12323
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perder perderse
Definition Dejar de poseer un objeto o bien material. No hallar su camino.

Where the eye mixes perder and perderse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. perder runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against perderse's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
perder
8 ch
perderse

Visual trap between perder and perderse

A purely visual mix-up. perder ([peɾˈð̞eɾ]) and perderse ([peɾˈð̞eɾse]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “perder” sits inside “perderse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12323, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perder is recorded at frequency rank #855, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈð̞eɾ]. perderse is at rank #11,468, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾˈð̞eɾse].

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 12323, this pair ranks #291,926 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perder vs perderse

Shared letters: depr. Private to "perder": -. Private to "perderse": s.

"perder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "perderse" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perder ← eprder · pedrer · perdder · perderr · perdre · peredr · perrder · pperder
  • perderse ← eprderse · pedrerse · perdderse · perderce · perderes · perderrse · perdersse · perdesre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perder" for "perderse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈð̞eɾ] versus [peɾˈð̞eɾse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perder" vs "perderse" - which ranks higher?
"perder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #855 in our Spanish list, against #11,468 for "perderse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "perder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perderse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,926 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perder" and "perderse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perder vs Perseo". 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 #291,926 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