permitevspermutaTell them apart

Quick tell: permite is a verb, permuta is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“permite” is a verb and “permuta” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#900
“permite” frequency rank
#49,188
“permuta” frequency rank
50088
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permite permuta
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de permitir o de permitirse. Acción y efecto de permutar

Where the eye mixes permite and permuta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
permite
7 ch
permuta

Why the eye confuses permite with permuta

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: permite is [peɾˈmit̪e] while permuta is [peɾˈmut̪a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permite is recorded at frequency rank #900, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈmit̪e]. permuta is at rank #49,188, tagged as anoun, pronounced [peɾˈmut̪a].

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 50088, this pair ranks #105,165 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of permite vs permuta

Shared letters: emprt. Private to "permite": i. Private to "permuta": au.

"permite" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "permuta" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permiteeprmite · pemrite · perimte · permiet · permitte · permmite · permtie · perrmite
  • permutaeprmuta · pemruta · permmuta · permtua · permuat · permutta · perrmuta · perumta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "permite" for "permuta" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "permite" is a verb and "permuta" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "permite" vs "permuta" - which ranks higher?
"permite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #900 in our Spanish list, against #49,188 for "permuta". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "permite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "permuta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #105,165 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permite" and "permuta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perdura 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 #105,165 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