Which to use
“protegían” and “protegido” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,205
- “protegían” frequency rank
- #6,945
- “protegido” frequency rank
- 50150
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | protegían | protegido |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de proteger. | Participio de proteger. |
Where the eye mixes protegían and protegido
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. protegían (CCVCVCVVC) and protegido (CCVCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses protegían with protegido
A purely visual mix-up. protegían ([pɾot̪eˈxiãn]) and protegido ([pɾot̪eˈxið̞o]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
protegían is recorded at frequency rank #43,205, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾot̪eˈxiãn]. protegido is at rank #6,945, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾot̪eˈxið̞o].
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 50150, this pair ranks #104,820 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of protegían vs protegido
Shared letters: egoprt. Private to "protegían": aní. Private to "protegido": di.
"protegían" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC · "protegido" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- protegido ← portegido · pprotegido · proetgido · protegdio · proteggido · protegiddo · protegiod · proteigdo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "protegían" for "protegido" ever safe?
Which is more common, "protegían" or "protegido"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "protegían" and "protegido" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "protegían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "protegido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #104,820 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "protegían" and "protegido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "protegían vs protegió". 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 #104,820 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.