Which to use
“sorprendan” and “sorprenden” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,821
- “sorprendan” frequency rank
- #20,520
- “sorprenden” frequency rank
- 67341
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sorprendan | sorprenden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de sorprender o de sorprenderse. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de sorprender o de sorprenderse. |
Where the eye mixes sorprendan and sorprenden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. sorprendan and sorprenden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between sorprendan and sorprenden
A purely visual mix-up. sorprendan ([soɾˈpɾẽn̪d̪ãn]) and sorprenden ([soɾˈpɾẽn̪d̪ẽn]) 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 a single letter - a in “sorprendan” becomes e in “sorprenden”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67341, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sorprendan is recorded at frequency rank #46,821, classified as averb, pronounced [soɾˈpɾẽn̪d̪ãn]. sorprenden is at rank #20,520, tagged as averb, pronounced [soɾˈpɾẽn̪d̪ẽn].
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 67341, this pair ranks #37,380 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sorprendan vs sorprenden
Shared letters: denoprs. Private to "sorprendan": a. Private to "sorprenden": -.
"sorprendan" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC · "sorprenden" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sorprendan ← osrprendan · soprrendan · sorperndan · sorpprendan · sorprednan · sorprenadn · sorprendann · sorprenddan
- sorprenden ← osrprenden · soprrenden · sorpernden · sorpprenden · sorprednen · sorprendden · sorprendenn · sorprendne
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sorprendan" for "sorprenden" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sorprendan" or "sorprenden" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sorprendan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sorprenden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #37,380 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sorprendan" and "sorprenden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sorprendan vs sorprendía". 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 #37,380 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.