seguíanvssequíasWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: seguían is a verb, sequías is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“seguían” is a verb and “sequías” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,718
“seguían” frequency rank
#29,841
“sequías” frequency rank
38559
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seguían sequías
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de seguir. Forma del plural de sequía.

Where the eye mixes seguían and sequías

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. seguían and sequías follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
seguían
7 ch
sequías

Visual trap between seguían and sequías

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seguían is [seˈɣ̞iãn] while sequías is [seˈkias]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38559, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seguían is recorded at frequency rank #8,718, classified as averb, pronounced [seˈɣ̞iãn]. sequías is at rank #29,841, tagged as anoun, pronounced [seˈkias].

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 38559, this pair ranks #169,329 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seguían vs sequías

Shared letters: aesuí. Private to "seguían": gn. Private to "sequías": q.

"seguían" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC  ·  "sequías" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "seguían" for "sequías" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seguían" is a verb and "sequías" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "seguían" or "sequías" show up more?
"seguían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,718 in our Spanish list, against #29,841 for "sequías". 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 "seguían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sequías" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,329 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seguían" and "sequías" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sentías vs sequías". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #169,329 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