perdíanvsperdonanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,795
“perdían” frequency rank
#30,616
“perdonan” frequency rank
63411
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdían perdonan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de perder o de perderse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de perdonar.

Where the eye mixes perdían and perdonan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. perdían runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against perdonan's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
perdían
8 ch
perdonan

Look-alike desk: perdían vs perdonan

A purely visual mix-up. perdían ([peɾˈð̞iãn]) and perdonan ([peɾˈð̞onãn]) 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 63411, 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]. perdonan is at rank #30,616, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾˈð̞onãn].

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 63411, this pair ranks #48,848 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of perdían vs perdonan

Shared letters: adenpr. Private to "perdían": í. Private to "perdonan": o.

"perdían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "perdonan" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perdonan ← eprdonan · pedronan · perddonan · perdnoan · perdoann · perdonann · perdonnan · perodnan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perdían" for "perdonan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈð̞iãn] versus [peɾˈð̞onãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "perdían" or "perdonan"?
"perdonan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,616 in our Spanish list, against #32,795 for "perdían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "perdían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perdonan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,848 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdían" and "perdonan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partían vs perdían". 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 #48,848 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