vendíanvsvendióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,592
“vendían” frequency rank
#7,374
“vendió” frequency rank
26966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vendían vendió
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de vender o de venderse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de vender o de venderse.

Where the eye mixes vendían and vendió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vendían runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against vendió's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
vendían
6 ch
vendió

Visual trap between vendían and vendió

A purely visual mix-up. vendían ([bẽn̪ˈd̪iãn]) and vendió ([bẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) 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 26966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vendían is recorded at frequency rank #19,592, classified as averb, pronounced [bẽn̪ˈd̪iãn]. vendió is at rank #7,374, tagged as averb, pronounced [bẽn̪ˈd̪jo].

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 26966, this pair ranks #229,067 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vendían vs vendió

Shared letters: denv. Private to "vendían": aí. Private to "vendió": ió.

"vendían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "vendió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vendían" and "vendió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bẽn̪ˈd̪iãn] versus [bẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vendían" vs "vendió" - which ranks higher?
"vendió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,374 in our Spanish list, against #19,592 for "vendían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vendían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vendió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #229,067 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vendían" and "vendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vendían vs venías". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #229,067 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