sufríanvssufriránWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,854
“sufrían” frequency rank
#32,415
“sufrirán” frequency rank
62269
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sufrían sufrirán
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de sufrir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de sufrir.

Where the eye mixes sufrían and sufrirán

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

7 ch
sufrían
8 ch
sufrirán

Visual trap between sufrían and sufrirán

A purely visual mix-up. sufrían ([suˈfɾiãn]) and sufrirán ([sufɾiˈɾãn]) 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 62269, 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]. sufrirán is at rank #32,415, tagged as averb, pronounced [sufɾiˈɾãn].

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 62269, this pair ranks #52,620 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sufrían vs sufrirán

Shared letters: fnrsu. Private to "sufrían": aí. Private to "sufrirán": iá.

"sufrían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "sufrirán" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sufrían" for "sufrirán" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([suˈfɾiãn] versus [sufɾiˈɾãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sufrían" or "sufrirán" show up more?
"sufrían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,854 in our Spanish list, against #32,415 for "sufrirán". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sufrían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sufrirán" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,620 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sufrían" and "sufrirán" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sufrirán vs surgirán". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #52,620 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