sufríanvssufridoConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#29,854
“sufrían” frequency rank
#3,813
“sufrido” frequency rank
33667
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sufrían sufrido
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de sufrir. Resignado, conforme, que tolera.

Where the eye mixes sufrían and sufrido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
sufrían
7 ch
sufrido

Visual trap between sufrían and sufrido

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sufrían is [suˈfɾiãn] while sufrido is [suˈfɾið̞o]. 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 33667, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sufrían is recorded at frequency rank #29,854, classified as averb, pronounced [suˈfɾiãn]. sufrido is at rank #3,813, tagged as anadj, pronounced [suˈfɾið̞o].

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 33667, this pair ranks #195,566 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sufrían vs sufrido

Shared letters: frsu. Private to "sufrían": aní. Private to "sufrido": dio.

"sufrían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "sufrido" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sufridosfurido · ssufrido · suffrido · sufirdo · sufrdio · sufriddo · sufriod · sufrrido

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sufrían" and "sufrido" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sufrían" is a verb and "sufrido" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sufrían" or "sufrido" show up more?
"sufrido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,813 in our Spanish list, against #29,854 for "sufrían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sufrían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sufrido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #195,566 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sufrían" and "sufrido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sufras vs sufrían". 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 #195,566 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