pretendesvspretendióTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,947
“pretendes” frequency rank
#28,887
“pretendió” frequency rank
47834
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pretendes pretendió
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de pretender. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de pretender.

Where the eye mixes pretendes and pretendió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. pretendes (CCVCVCCVC) and pretendió (CCVCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
pretendes
9 ch
pretendió

Visual trap between pretendes and pretendió

A purely visual mix-up. pretendes ([pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪es]) and pretendió ([pɾet̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47834, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pretendes is recorded at frequency rank #18,947, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪es]. pretendió is at rank #28,887, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾet̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo].

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 47834, this pair ranks #117,846 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pretendes vs pretendió

Shared letters: denprt. Private to "pretendes": s. Private to "pretendió": ió.

"pretendes" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "pretendió" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pretendes ← pertendes · ppretendes · preetndes · pretednes · pretenddes · pretendess · pretendse · preteneds

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pretendes" and "pretendió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([pɾeˈt̪ẽn̪d̪es] versus [pɾet̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pretendes" or "pretendió"?
"pretendes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,947 in our Spanish list, against #28,887 for "pretendió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pretendes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pretendió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #117,846 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pretendes" and "pretendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pretendas vs pretendió". 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 #117,846 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