sacudevssucedeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,149
“sacude” frequency rank
#1,963
“sucede” frequency rank
23112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sacude sucede
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de sacudir o de sacudirse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de suceder.

Where the eye mixes sacude and sucede

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sacude
6 ch
sucede

Look-alike desk: sacude vs sucede

A purely visual mix-up. sacude ([saˈkuð̞e]) and sucede ([suˈseð̞e]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sacude is recorded at frequency rank #21,149, classified as averb, pronounced [saˈkuð̞e]. sucede is at rank #1,963, tagged as averb, pronounced [suˈseð̞e].

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 23112, this pair ranks #247,336 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sacude vs sucede

Shared letters: cdesu. Private to "sacude": a. Private to "sucede": -.

"sacude" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "sucede" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sacudeascude · saccude · sacdue · sacudde · sacued · saucde · scaude · ssacude
  • sucedescuede · ssucede · succede · sucdee · sucedde · suceed · suecde · susede

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sacude" for "sucede" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([saˈkuð̞e] versus [suˈseð̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sacude" vs "sucede" - which ranks higher?
"sucede" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,963 in our Spanish list, against #21,149 for "sacude". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "sacude" and "sucede" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sacude" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sucede" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #247,336 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sacude" and "sucede" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sácate vs sacude". 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 #247,336 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