perdíanvspersiganWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,795
“perdían” frequency rank
#44,921
“persigan” frequency rank
77716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdían persigan
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 subjuntivo de perseguir.

Where the eye mixes perdían and persigan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. perdían runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against persigan's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
perdían
8 ch
persigan

Visual trap between perdían and persigan

A purely visual mix-up. perdían ([peɾˈð̞iãn]) and persigan ([peɾˈsiɣ̞ãn]) 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 77716, 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]. persigan is at rank #44,921, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾˈsiɣ̞ãn].

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 77716, this pair ranks #15,556 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of perdían vs persigan

Shared letters: aenpr. Private to "perdían": dí. Private to "persigan": gis.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persigan ← eprsigan · percigan · perisgan · perrsigan · persgian · persiagn · persigann · persiggan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perdían" for "persigan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈð̞iãn] versus [peɾˈsiɣ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perdían" vs "persigan" - which ranks higher?
"perdían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,795 in our Spanish list, against #44,921 for "persigan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "perdían" and "persigan" 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 "persigan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,556 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdían" and "persigan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "persiga vs persigan". 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 #15,556 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