permitíanvspermitieranTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,787
“permitían” frequency rank
#33,273
“permitieran” frequency rank
51060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permitían permitieran
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de permitir o de permitirse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo de permitir o de permitirse.

Where the eye mixes permitían and permitieran

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. permitían runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against permitieran's 11 (CVCCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
permitían
11 ch
permitieran

Why the eye confuses permitían with permitieran

A purely visual mix-up. permitían ([peɾmiˈt̪iãn]) and permitieran ([peɾmiˈt̪jeɾãn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

permitían is recorded at frequency rank #17,787, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾmiˈt̪iãn]. permitieran is at rank #33,273, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾmiˈt̪jeɾãn].

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 51060, this pair ranks #99,882 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of permitían vs permitieran

Shared letters: aeimnprt. Private to "permitían": í. Private to "permitieran": -.

"permitían" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "permitieran" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permitieran ← eprmitieran · pemritieran · perimtieran · permiiteran · permiteiran · permitiearn · permitierann · permitierna

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "permitían" and "permitieran" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([peɾmiˈt̪iãn] versus [peɾmiˈt̪jeɾãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "permitían" or "permitieran"?
"permitían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,787 in our Spanish list, against #33,273 for "permitieran". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "permitían" and "permitieran" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "permitían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "permitieran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,882 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permitían" and "permitieran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permitieran vs permitirían". 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 #99,882 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