perseguíavsperseguirWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,718
“perseguía” frequency rank
#7,335
“perseguir” frequency rank
35053
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perseguía perseguir
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de perseguir. Ir tras quien huye para alcanzarlo.

Where the eye mixes perseguía and perseguir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. perseguía (CVCCVCVVV) and perseguir (CVCCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
perseguía
9 ch
perseguir

Why the eye confuses perseguía with perseguir

A purely visual mix-up. perseguía ([peɾseˈɣ̞ia]) and perseguir ([peɾseˈɣ̞iɾ]) 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 35053, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perseguía is recorded at frequency rank #27,718, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾseˈɣ̞ia]. perseguir is at rank #7,335, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾseˈɣ̞iɾ].

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 35053, this pair ranks #188,109 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perseguía vs perseguir

Shared letters: egprsu. Private to "perseguía": aí. Private to "perseguir": i.

"perseguía" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVV  ·  "perseguir" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perseguir ← eprseguir · perceguir · peresguir · perrseguir · persegguir · persegiur · perseguirr · perseguri

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perseguía" and "perseguir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([peɾseˈɣ̞ia] versus [peɾseˈɣ̞iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "perseguía" or "perseguir"?
"perseguir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,335 in our Spanish list, against #27,718 for "perseguía". 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 "perseguía" and "perseguir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perseguía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perseguir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #188,109 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perseguía" and "perseguir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perseguía vs perseguidas". 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 #188,109 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