perdióvsperdonóTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,873
“perdió” frequency rank
#26,176
“perdonó” frequency rank
28049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdió perdonó
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple 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 perdonar.

Where the eye mixes perdió and perdonó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
perdió
7 ch
perdonó

Look-alike desk: perdió vs perdonó

A purely visual mix-up. perdió ([peɾˈð̞jo]) and perdonó ([peɾð̞oˈno]) 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 28049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perdió is recorded at frequency rank #1,873, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈð̞jo]. perdonó is at rank #26,176, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾð̞oˈno].

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 28049, this pair ranks #223,907 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perdió vs perdonó

Shared letters: depró. Private to "perdió": i. Private to "perdonó": no.

"perdió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "perdonó" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perdió" for "perdonó" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈð̞jo] versus [peɾð̞oˈno]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perdió" vs "perdonó" - which ranks higher?
"perdió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,873 in our Spanish list, against #26,176 for "perdonó". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "perdió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perdonó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,907 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdió" and "perdonó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peldaño vs perdonó". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #223,907 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