Which to use
“temía” and “temían” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,364
- “temía” frequency rank
- #26,639
- “temían” frequency rank
- 40003
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | temía | temían |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de temer. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de temer. |
Where the eye mixes temía and temían
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. temía runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against temían's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between temía and temían
A purely visual mix-up. temía ([t̪eˈmia]) and temían ([t̪eˈmiãn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “temía” sits inside “temían”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
temía is recorded at frequency rank #13,364, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪eˈmia]. temían is at rank #26,639, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪eˈmiãn].
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 40003, this pair ranks #161,448 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of temía vs temían
Shared letters: aemtí. Private to "temía": -. Private to "temían": n.
"temía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "temían" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "temía" for "temían" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "temía" or "temían" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "temía" and "temían" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "temía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "temían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #161,448 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "temía" and "temían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "temían vs tendían". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #161,448 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.