prendevspuedeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,675
“prende” frequency rank
#60
“puede” frequency rank
14735
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prende puede
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de prendar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de poder.

Where the eye mixes prende and puede

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
prende
5 ch
puede

Look-alike desk: prende vs puede

A purely visual mix-up. prende ([ˈpɾẽn̪d̪e]) and puede ([ˈpweð̞e]) 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 14735, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prende is recorded at frequency rank #14,675, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpɾẽn̪d̪e]. puede is at rank #60, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpweð̞e].

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 14735, this pair ranks #282,962 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prende vs puede

Shared letters: dep. Private to "prende": nr. Private to "puede": u.

"prende" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "puede" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prendepernde · pprende · predne · prendde · prened · prennde · prnede · prrende
  • puedepeude · ppuede · pudee · puedde · pueed · upede

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prende" for "puede" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpɾẽn̪d̪e] versus [ˈpweð̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "prende" or "puede"?
"puede" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #60 in our Spanish list, against #14,675 for "prende". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "prende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "puede" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,962 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prende" and "puede" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pence vs prende". 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 #282,962 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