recorríanvsrecorrióTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,165
“recorrían” frequency rank
#14,441
“recorrió” frequency rank
60606
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recorrían recorrió
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de recorrer. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de recorrer.

Where the eye mixes recorrían and recorrió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

9 ch
recorrían
8 ch
recorrió

Why the eye confuses recorrían with recorrió

A purely visual mix-up. recorrían ([rekoˈriãn]) and recorrió ([rekoˈrjo]) 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 60606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recorrían is recorded at frequency rank #46,165, classified as averb, pronounced [rekoˈriãn]. recorrió is at rank #14,441, tagged as averb, pronounced [rekoˈrjo].

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 60606, this pair ranks #58,356 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recorrían vs recorrió

Shared letters: ceor. Private to "recorrían": aní. Private to "recorrió": .

"recorrían" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC  ·  "recorrió" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "recorrían" and "recorrió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([rekoˈriãn] versus [rekoˈrjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recorrían" or "recorrió"?
"recorrió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,441 in our Spanish list, against #46,165 for "recorrían". 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 "recorrían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recorrió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,356 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recorrían" and "recorrió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recorrían vs recortan". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #58,356 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