persistevspersistenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,177
“persiste” frequency rank
#25,399
“persisten” frequency rank
41576
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature persiste persisten
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de persistir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de persistir.

Where the eye mixes persiste and persisten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
persiste
9 ch
persisten

Why the eye confuses persiste with persisten

A purely visual mix-up. persiste ([peɾˈsist̪e]) and persisten ([peɾˈsist̪ẽn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “persiste” sits inside “persisten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

persiste is recorded at frequency rank #16,177, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈsist̪e]. persisten is at rank #25,399, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾˈsist̪ẽn].

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 41576, this pair ranks #152,918 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of persiste vs persisten

Shared letters: eiprst. Private to "persiste": -. Private to "persisten": n.

"persiste" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "persisten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persisteeprsiste · perciste · perisste · perrsiste · persiset · persisste · persistte · persitse
  • persisteneprsisten · percisten · perissten · perrsisten · persisetn · persissten · persistenn · persistne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "persiste" and "persisten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈsist̪e] versus [peɾˈsist̪ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "persiste" vs "persisten" - which ranks higher?
"persiste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,177 in our Spanish list, against #25,399 for "persisten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "persiste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "persisten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,918 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "persiste" and "persisten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "persisten vs persistir". 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 #152,918 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