temblóvstemidoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,173
“tembló” frequency rank
#21,846
“temido” frequency rank
64019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tembló temido
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de temblar. Participio de temer.

Where the eye mixes tembló and temido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tembló (CVCCCV) and temido (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
tembló
6 ch
temido

Why the eye confuses tembló with temido

A purely visual mix-up. tembló ([t̪ẽmˈblo]) and temido ([t̪eˈmið̞o]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tembló is recorded at frequency rank #42,173, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪ẽmˈblo]. temido is at rank #21,846, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪eˈmið̞o].

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 64019, this pair ranks #46,872 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tembló vs temido

Shared letters: emt. Private to "tembló": bló. Private to "temido": dio.

"tembló" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "temido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • temido ← etmido · teimdo · temdio · temiddo · temiod · temmido · tmeido · ttemido

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tembló" for "temido" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t̪ẽmˈblo] versus [t̪eˈmið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tembló" or "temido"?
"temido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,846 in our Spanish list, against #42,173 for "tembló". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tembló" and "temido" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tembló" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "temido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,872 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tembló" and "temido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tembló vs túmulo". 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 #46,872 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