prendióvsprevioWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: prendió is a verb, previo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“prendió” is a verb and “previo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,423
“prendió” frequency rank
#3,649
“previo” frequency rank
20072
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prendió previo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de prender o de prenderse. Que está, es u ocurre primero o delante en el tiempo o en sucesión; que antecede, que va antes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prendió and previo apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
prendió
6 ch
previo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prendió is [pɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo] while previo is [ˈpɾeβ̞jo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prendió is recorded at frequency rank #16,423, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo]. previo is at rank #3,649, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpɾeβ̞jo].

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 20072, this pair ranks #260,922 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prendió vs previo

Shared letters: eipr. Private to "prendió": dnó. Private to "previo": ov.

"prendió" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVV  ·  "previo" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • previopervio · pprevio · prebio · preivo · prevoi · prevvio · prrevio · prveio

Frequency comparison

prendió#16,423
previo#3,649

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prendió" and "previo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prendió" is a verb and "previo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prendió" or "previo"?
"previo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,649 in our Spanish list, against #16,423 for "prendió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prendió vs previo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “prendió”; for an adjective, it's “previo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “prendió” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list