perseguíavspersiguióWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,718
“perseguía” frequency rank
#24,598
“persiguió” frequency rank
52316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perseguía persiguió
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de perseguir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de perseguir.

Where the eye mixes perseguía and persiguió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. perseguía and persiguió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
perseguía
9 ch
persiguió

Visual trap between perseguía and persiguió

A purely visual mix-up. perseguía ([peɾseˈɣ̞ia]) and persiguió ([peɾsiˈɣ̞jo]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52316, 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]. persiguió is at rank #24,598, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾsiˈɣ̞jo].

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 52316, this pair ranks #93,301 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perseguía vs persiguió

Shared letters: egprsu. Private to "perseguía": aí. Private to "persiguió": ió.

"perseguía" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVV  ·  "persiguió" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perseguía" for "persiguió" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾseˈɣ̞ia] versus [peɾsiˈɣ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perseguía" vs "persiguió" - which ranks higher?
"persiguió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,598 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "perseguía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "persiguió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #93,301 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perseguía" and "persiguió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perseguía vs perseguidas". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #93,301 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