prevalecevsprevalecióWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,473
“prevalece” frequency rank
#44,943
“prevaleció” frequency rank
65416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prevalece prevaleció
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de prevalecer. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de prevalecer.

Where the eye mixes prevalece and prevaleció

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. prevalece runs 9 letters (CCVCVCVCV) against prevaleció's 10 (CCVCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
prevalece
10 ch
prevaleció

Visual trap between prevalece and prevaleció

A purely visual mix-up. prevalece ([pɾeβ̞aˈlese]) and prevaleció ([pɾeβ̞aleˈsjo]) 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 65416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prevalece is recorded at frequency rank #20,473, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾeβ̞aˈlese]. prevaleció is at rank #44,943, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾeβ̞aleˈsjo].

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 65416, this pair ranks #42,700 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of prevalece vs prevaleció

Shared letters: acelprv. Private to "prevalece": -. Private to "prevaleció": ió.

"prevalece" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV  ·  "prevaleció" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prevalece ← pervalece · pprevalece · preavlece · prebalece · prevaelce · prevalcee · prevalecce · prevaleec

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prevalece" and "prevaleció" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([pɾeβ̞aˈlese] versus [pɾeβ̞aleˈsjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "prevalece" or "prevaleció"?
"prevalece" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,473 in our Spanish list, against #44,943 for "prevaleció". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prevalece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prevaleció" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,700 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prevalece" and "prevaleció" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prevalecen vs prevaleció". 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 #42,700 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