Which to use
“protegían” and “protegió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,205
- “protegían” frequency rank
- #35,209
- “protegió” frequency rank
- 78414
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | protegían | protegió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de proteger. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de proteger. |
Where the eye mixes protegían and protegió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. protegían runs 9 letters (CCVCVCVVC) against protegió's 8 (CCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: protegían vs protegió
A purely visual mix-up. protegían ([pɾot̪eˈxiãn]) and protegió ([pɾot̪eˈxjo]) 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 78414, 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]. protegió is at rank #35,209, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾot̪eˈxjo].
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 78414, this pair ranks #14,493 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of protegían vs protegió
Shared letters: egoprt. Private to "protegían": aní. Private to "protegió": ió.
"protegían" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC · "protegió" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "protegían" and "protegió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "protegían" vs "protegió" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "protegían" and "protegió" 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 "protegió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,493 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "protegían" and "protegió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prometio vs protegió". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #14,493 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.