resistevsresistíaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,413
“resiste” frequency rank
#44,981
“resistía” frequency rank
55394
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature resiste resistía
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de resistir o de resistirse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de resistir o de resistirse.

Where the eye mixes resiste and resistía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. resiste runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against resistía's 8 (CVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
resiste
8 ch
resistía

Visual trap between resiste and resistía

A purely visual mix-up. resiste ([reˈsist̪e]) and resistía ([resisˈt̪ia]) 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 55394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

resiste is recorded at frequency rank #10,413, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈsist̪e]. resistía is at rank #44,981, tagged as averb, pronounced [resisˈt̪ia].

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 55394, this pair ranks #79,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of resiste vs resistía

Shared letters: eirst. Private to "resiste": -. Private to "resistía": aí.

"resiste" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "resistía" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • resiste ← ersiste · reciste · reisste · resiset · resisste · resistte · resitse · ressiste

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "resiste" for "resistía" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([reˈsist̪e] versus [resisˈt̪ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "resiste" or "resistía"?
"resiste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,413 in our Spanish list, against #44,981 for "resistía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "resiste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "resistía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #79,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "resiste" and "resistía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "resistía vs resisto". 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 #79,113 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