permitevspermitenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#900
“permite” frequency rank
#2,739
“permiten” frequency rank
3639
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permite permiten
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de permitir o de permitirse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de permitir o de permitirse.

Where the eye mixes permite and permiten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
permite
8 ch
permiten

Why the eye confuses permite with permiten

A purely visual mix-up. permite ([peɾˈmit̪e]) and permiten ([peɾˈmit̪ẽn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “permite” sits inside “permiten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3639, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permite is recorded at frequency rank #900, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈmit̪e]. permiten is at rank #2,739, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾˈmit̪ẽn].

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 3639, this pair ranks #317,886 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of permite vs permiten

Shared letters: eimprt. Private to "permite": -. Private to "permiten": n.

"permite" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "permiten" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permiteeprmite · pemrite · perimte · permiet · permitte · permmite · permtie · perrmite
  • permiteneprmiten · pemriten · perimten · permietn · permitenn · permitne · permitten · permmiten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "permite" and "permiten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈmit̪e] versus [peɾˈmit̪ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "permite" or "permiten"?
"permite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #900 in our Spanish list, against #2,739 for "permiten". 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 "permite" and "permiten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "permite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "permiten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #317,886 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permite" and "permiten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permite vs permuta". 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 #317,886 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