Which to use
“sorprendan” and “sorprendió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,821
- “sorprendan” frequency rank
- #6,462
- “sorprendió” frequency rank
- 53283
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sorprendan | sorprendió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de sorprender o de sorprenderse. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de sorprender o de sorprenderse. |
Where the eye mixes sorprendan and sorprendió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. sorprendan (CVCCCVCCVC) and sorprendió (CVCCCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between sorprendan and sorprendió
A purely visual mix-up. sorprendan ([soɾˈpɾẽn̪d̪ãn]) and sorprendió ([soɾpɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) 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 53283, 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]. sorprendió is at rank #6,462, tagged as averb, pronounced [soɾpɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo].
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 53283, this pair ranks #88,648 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sorprendan vs sorprendió
Shared letters: denoprs. Private to "sorprendan": a. Private to "sorprendió": ió.
"sorprendan" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC · "sorprendió" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sorprendan ← osrprendan · soprrendan · sorperndan · sorpprendan · sorprednan · sorprenadn · sorprendann · sorprenddan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sorprendan" for "sorprendió" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sorprendan" vs "sorprendió" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sorprendan" and "sorprendió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sorprendan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sorprendió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #88,648 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sorprendan" and "sorprendió" 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 #88,648 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.