persiguevspersiguióWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,849
“persigue” frequency rank
#24,598
“persiguió” frequency rank
33447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature persigue persiguió
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente 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 persigue and persiguió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. persigue runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against persiguió's 9 (CVCCVCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
persigue
9 ch
persiguió

Look-alike desk: persigue vs persiguió

A purely visual mix-up. persigue ([peɾˈsiɣ̞e]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

persigue is recorded at frequency rank #8,849, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈsiɣ̞e]. 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 33447, this pair ranks #196,753 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of persigue vs persiguió

Shared letters: egiprsu. Private to "persigue": -. Private to "persiguió": ó.

"persigue" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "persiguió" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persigue ← eprsigue · percigue · perisgue · perrsigue · persgiue · persigeu · persiggue · persiuge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "persigue" and "persiguió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈsiɣ̞e] versus [peɾsiˈɣ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "persigue" or "persiguió"?
"persigue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,849 in our Spanish list, against #24,598 for "persiguió". 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 "persigue" 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 #196,753 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "persigue" and "persiguió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "persigan vs persigue". 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 #196,753 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