permitevspermitirWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#900
“permite” frequency rank
#2,411
“permitir” frequency rank
3311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permite permitir
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de permitir o de permitirse. Dar su consentimiento quien tenga autoridad competente, para que otros hagan de dejen de hacer algo.

Where the eye mixes permite and permitir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
permite
8 ch
permitir

Look-alike desk: permite vs permitir

A purely visual mix-up. permite ([peɾˈmit̪e]) and permitir ([peɾmiˈt̪iɾ]) 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 3311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permite is recorded at frequency rank #900, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈmit̪e]. permitir is at rank #2,411, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾmiˈt̪iɾ].

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 3311, this pair ranks #318,582 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of permite vs permitir

Shared letters: eimprt. Private to "permite": -. Private to "permitir": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permiteeprmite · pemrite · perimte · permiet · permitte · permmite · permtie · perrmite
  • permitireprmitir · pemritir · perimtir · permiitr · permitirr · permitri · permittir · permmitir

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "permite" for "permitir" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈmit̪e] versus [peɾmiˈt̪iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "permite" vs "permitir" - which ranks higher?
"permite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #900 in our Spanish list, against #2,411 for "permitir". 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 "permite" and "permitir" 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 "permitir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,582 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permite" and "permitir" 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 #318,582 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