perdíanvsperdióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,795
“perdían” frequency rank
#1,873
“perdió” frequency rank
34668
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdían perdió
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de perder o de perderse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de perder o de perderse.

Where the eye mixes perdían and perdió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. perdían runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against perdió's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
perdían
6 ch
perdió

Why the eye confuses perdían with perdió

A purely visual mix-up. perdían ([peɾˈð̞iãn]) and perdió ([peɾˈð̞jo]) 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 34668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perdían is recorded at frequency rank #32,795, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈð̞iãn]. perdió is at rank #1,873, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾˈð̞jo].

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 34668, this pair ranks #190,227 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perdían vs perdió

Shared letters: depr. Private to "perdían": aní. Private to "perdió": ió.

"perdían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "perdió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perdían" and "perdió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈð̞iãn] versus [peɾˈð̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perdían" vs "perdió" - which ranks higher?
"perdió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,873 in our Spanish list, against #32,795 for "perdían". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "perdían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perdió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #190,227 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdían" and "perdió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partían vs perdían". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #190,227 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