perdurarvsperturbarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#47,317
“perdurar” frequency rank
#29,340
“perturbar” frequency rank
76657
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdurar perturbar
Definition Continuar siendo, seguir existiendo, mantenerse o permanecer en el mismo estado pesar del paso de mucho tiempo. Alterar o trastornar. Producir desorden, inquietud o intranquilidad en algo o en alguien.

Where the eye mixes perdurar and perturbar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. perdurar runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against perturbar's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
perdurar
9 ch
perturbar

Why the eye confuses perdurar with perturbar

A purely visual mix-up. perdurar ([peɾð̞uˈɾaɾ]) and perturbar ([peɾt̪uɾˈβ̞aɾ]) 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 76657, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perdurar is recorded at frequency rank #47,317, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾð̞uˈɾaɾ]. perturbar is at rank #29,340, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾt̪uɾˈβ̞aɾ].

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 76657, this pair ranks #17,332 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of perdurar vs perturbar

Shared letters: aepru. Private to "perdurar": d. Private to "perturbar": bt.

"perdurar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "perturbar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perdurar ← eprdurar · pedrurar · perddurar · perdruar · perduarr · perdurarr · perdurrar · perrdurar
  • perturbar ← eprturbar · perrturbar · pertrubar · pertturbar · pertubrar · perturabr · perturbarr · perturbbar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perdurar" and "perturbar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([peɾð̞uˈɾaɾ] versus [peɾt̪uɾˈβ̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "perdurar" or "perturbar" show up more?
"perturbar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,340 in our Spanish list, against #47,317 for "perdurar". 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 "perdurar" and "perturbar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perdurar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perturbar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,332 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdurar" and "perturbar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perduran vs perdurar". 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 #17,332 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