sucedíanvssucedióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,625
“sucedían” frequency rank
#2,807
“sucedió” frequency rank
48432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sucedían sucedió
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de suceder. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de suceder.

Where the eye mixes sucedían and sucedió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sucedían runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVC) against sucedió's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
sucedían
7 ch
sucedió

Visual trap between sucedían and sucedió

A purely visual mix-up. sucedían ([suseˈð̞iãn]) and sucedió ([suseˈð̞jo]) 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 48432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sucedían is recorded at frequency rank #45,625, classified as averb, pronounced [suseˈð̞iãn]. sucedió is at rank #2,807, tagged as averb, pronounced [suseˈð̞jo].

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 48432, this pair ranks #114,515 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sucedían vs sucedió

Shared letters: cdesu. Private to "sucedían": aní. Private to "sucedió": ió.

"sucedían" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "sucedió" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sucedían" for "sucedió" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([suseˈð̞iãn] versus [suseˈð̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sucedían" vs "sucedió" - which ranks higher?
"sucedió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,807 in our Spanish list, against #45,625 for "sucedían". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sucedían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sucedió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,515 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sucedían" and "sucedió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sucedan vs sucedían". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #114,515 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