subíanvssuciasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: subían is a verb, sucias is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“subían” is a verb and “sucias” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,354
“subían” frequency rank
#14,969
“sucias” frequency rank
49323
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature subían sucias
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de subir o de subirse. Forma del femenino plural de sucio.

Where the eye mixes subían and sucias

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. subían and sucias follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
subían
6 ch
sucias

Visual trap between subían and sucias

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: subían is [suˈβ̞iãn] while sucias is [ˈsusjas]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49323, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

subían is recorded at frequency rank #34,354, classified as averb, pronounced [suˈβ̞iãn]. sucias is at rank #14,969, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈsusjas].

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 49323, this pair ranks #109,494 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of subían vs sucias

Shared letters: asu. Private to "subían": bní. Private to "sucias": ci.

"subían" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "sucias" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sucias ← scuias · ssucias · sucais · succias · suciass · sucisa · suicas · susias

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "subían" and "sucias" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "subían" is a verb and "sucias" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "subían" vs "sucias" - which ranks higher?
"sucias" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,969 in our Spanish list, against #34,354 for "subían". 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 "subían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sucias" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,494 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "subían" and "sucias" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "subían vs subís". 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 #109,494 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