permitevspermitoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#900
“permite” frequency rank
#18,931
“permito” frequency rank
19831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permite permito
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de permitir o de permitirse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de permitir o de permitirse.

Where the eye mixes permite and permito

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

7 ch
permite
7 ch
permito

Visual trap between permite and permito

A purely visual mix-up. permite ([peɾˈmit̪e]) and permito ([peɾˈmit̪o]) 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 a single letter - e in “permite” becomes o in “permito”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permite is recorded at frequency rank #900, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈmit̪e]. permito is at rank #18,931, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾˈmit̪o].

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 19831, this pair ranks #262,028 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of permite vs permito

Shared letters: eimprt. Private to "permite": -. Private to "permito": o.

"permite" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "permito" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permiteeprmite · pemrite · perimte · permiet · permitte · permmite · permtie · perrmite
  • permitoeprmito · pemrito · perimto · permiot · permitto · permmito · permtio · perrmito

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "permite" and "permito" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈmit̪e] versus [peɾˈmit̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "permite" or "permito"?
"permite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #900 in our Spanish list, against #18,931 for "permito". 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 "permite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "permito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,028 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permite" and "permito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permito 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 #262,028 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