prendívsprendióTell them apart

Which to use

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

#44,383
“prendí” frequency rank
#16,423
“prendió” frequency rank
60806
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prendí prendió
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de prender o de prenderse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de prender o de prenderse.

Where the eye mixes prendí and prendió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. prendí runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against prendió's 7 (CCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
prendí
7 ch
prendió

Why the eye confuses prendí with prendió

A purely visual mix-up. prendí ([pɾẽn̪ˈd̪i]) and prendió ([pɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) 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 60806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prendí is recorded at frequency rank #44,383, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾẽn̪ˈd̪i]. prendió is at rank #16,423, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo].

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 60806, this pair ranks #57,665 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of prendí vs prendió

Shared letters: denpr. Private to "prendí": í. Private to "prendió": ió.

"prendí" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "prendió" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prendí" for "prendió" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pɾẽn̪ˈd̪i] versus [pɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "prendí" vs "prendió" - which ranks higher?
"prendió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,423 in our Spanish list, against #44,383 for "prendí". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "prendí" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prendió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,665 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prendí" and "prendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prendan vs prendí". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #57,665 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