permanecenvspermanecióWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,564
“permanecen” frequency rank
#9,173
“permaneció” frequency rank
17737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permanecen permaneció
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de permanecer. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de permanecer.

Where the eye mixes permanecen and permaneció

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
permanecen
10 ch
permaneció

Why the eye confuses permanecen with permaneció

A purely visual mix-up. permanecen ([peɾmaˈnesẽn]) and permaneció ([peɾmaneˈsjo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permanecen is recorded at frequency rank #8,564, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾmaˈnesẽn]. permaneció is at rank #9,173, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾmaneˈsjo].

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 17737, this pair ranks #270,913 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of permanecen vs permaneció

Shared letters: acemnpr. Private to "permanecen": -. Private to "permaneció": .

"permanecen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "permaneció" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permaneceneprmanecen · pemranecen · peramnecen · permaencen · permanceen · permaneccen · permanecenn · permanecne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "permanecen" for "permaneció" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾmaˈnesẽn] versus [peɾmaneˈsjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "permanecen" or "permaneció"?
"permanecen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,564 in our Spanish list, against #9,173 for "permaneció". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "permanecen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "permaneció" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #270,913 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permanecen" and "permaneció" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permanecen vs permanecerán". 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 #270,913 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