recomendóvsrecomiendaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,850
“recomendó” frequency rank
#5,881
“recomienda” frequency rank
17731
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recomendó recomienda
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de recomendar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recomendar.

Where the eye mixes recomendó and recomienda

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

9 ch
recomendó
10 ch
recomienda

Visual trap between recomendó and recomienda

A purely visual mix-up. recomendó ([rekomẽn̪ˈd̪o]) and recomienda ([rekoˈmjẽn̪d̪a]) 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 17731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recomendó is recorded at frequency rank #11,850, classified as averb, pronounced [rekomẽn̪ˈd̪o]. recomienda is at rank #5,881, tagged as averb, pronounced [rekoˈmjẽn̪d̪a].

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 17731, this pair ranks #270,938 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recomendó vs recomienda

Shared letters: cdemnor. Private to "recomendó": ó. Private to "recomienda": ai.

"recomendó" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV  ·  "recomienda" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recomiendaercomienda · rceomienda · reccomienda · recmoienda · recoimenda · recomeinda · recomiedna · recomienad

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recomendó" and "recomienda" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([rekomẽn̪ˈd̪o] versus [rekoˈmjẽn̪d̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recomendó" or "recomienda"?
"recomienda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,881 in our Spanish list, against #11,850 for "recomendó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recomendó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recomienda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #270,938 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recomendó" and "recomienda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recomienda vs recomienden". 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 #270,938 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