permitíavspermitirWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,292
“permitía” frequency rank
#2,411
“permitir” frequency rank
10703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permitía permitir
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto 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 permitía and permitir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. permitía (CVCCVCVV) and permitir (CVCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
permitía
8 ch
permitir

Visual trap between permitía and permitir

A purely visual mix-up. permitía ([peɾmiˈt̪ia]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permitía is recorded at frequency rank #8,292, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾmiˈt̪ia]. 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 10703, this pair ranks #297,679 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of permitía vs permitir

Shared letters: eimprt. Private to "permitía": aí. Private to "permitir": -.

"permitía" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "permitir" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permitir ← eprmitir · pemritir · perimtir · permiitr · permitirr · permitri · permittir · permmitir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "permitía" and "permitir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([peɾmiˈt̪ia] versus [peɾmiˈt̪iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "permitía" vs "permitir" - which ranks higher?
"permitir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,411 in our Spanish list, against #8,292 for "permitía". 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 "permitía" and "permitir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "permitía" 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 #297,679 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permitía" and "permitir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permitía 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 #297,679 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