sorprendidavssorprendióWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sorprendida is a participle, sorprendió is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sorprendida” is a participle and “sorprendió” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,965
“sorprendida” frequency rank
#6,462
“sorprendió” frequency rank
21427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sorprendida sorprendió
Definition Forma del femenino de sorprendido, participio 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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sorprendida and sorprendió apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
sorprendida
10 ch
sorprendió

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

sorprendida and sorprendió form a confusable pair in the Spanish index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sorprendida is recorded at frequency rank #14,965, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [soɾpɾẽn̪ˈd̪ið̞a]. 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 21427, this pair ranks #254,987 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

sorprendida#14,965
sorprendió#6,462

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sorprendida" and "sorprendió" be used interchangeably?
No, "sorprendida" and "sorprendió" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering sorprendida vs sorprendió

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a participle, it's “sorprendida”; for a verb, it's “sorprendió”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sorprendida” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list