Which to use
“sufrió” and “surgió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,200
- “sufrió” frequency rank
- #4,838
- “surgió” frequency rank
- 9038
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sufrió | surgió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de sufrir. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de surgir. |
Where the eye mixes sufrió and surgió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sufrió and surgió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses sufrió with surgió
A purely visual mix-up. sufrió ([suˈfɾjo]) and surgió ([suɾˈxjo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9038, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sufrió is recorded at frequency rank #4,200, classified as averb, pronounced [suˈfɾjo]. surgió is at rank #4,838, tagged as averb, pronounced [suɾˈxjo].
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 9038, this pair ranks #303,156 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sufrió vs surgió
Shared letters: irsuó. Private to "sufrió": f. Private to "surgió": g.
"sufrió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "surgió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sufrió" and "surgió" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sufrió" or "surgió" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sufrió" and "surgió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sufrió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "surgió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #303,156 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sufrió" and "surgió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sumergió vs surgió". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #303,156 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.