sorprendíavssorprendoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,822
“sorprendía” frequency rank
#43,867
“sorprendo” frequency rank
90689
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sorprendía sorprendo
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de sorprender o de sorprenderse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de sorprender o de sorprenderse.

Where the eye mixes sorprendía and sorprendo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. sorprendía runs 10 letters (CVCCCVCCVV) against sorprendo's 9 (CVCCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
sorprendía
9 ch
sorprendo

Visual trap between sorprendía and sorprendo

A purely visual mix-up. sorprendía ([soɾpɾẽn̪ˈd̪ia]) and sorprendo ([soɾˈpɾẽn̪d̪o]) 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 90689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sorprendía is recorded at frequency rank #46,822, classified as averb, pronounced [soɾpɾẽn̪ˈd̪ia]. sorprendo is at rank #43,867, tagged as averb, pronounced [soɾˈpɾẽn̪d̪o].

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 90689, this pair ranks #2,370 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sorprendía vs sorprendo

Shared letters: denoprs. Private to "sorprendía": aí. Private to "sorprendo": -.

"sorprendía" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVV  ·  "sorprendo" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sorprendo ← osrprendo · soprrendo · sorperndo · sorpprendo · sorpredno · sorprenddo · sorprenndo · sorprenod

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sorprendía" and "sorprendo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([soɾpɾẽn̪ˈd̪ia] versus [soɾˈpɾẽn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sorprendía" vs "sorprendo" - which ranks higher?
"sorprendo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,867 in our Spanish list, against #46,822 for "sorprendía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sorprendía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sorprendo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,370 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sorprendía" and "sorprendo" 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 #2,370 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