despiadado
[d̪espjaˈð̞að̞o]
The verdict
“despiadado” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #25,997 in Spanish word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #25,997
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Que no tiene o muestra piedad.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | despiadado |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [d̪espjaˈð̞að̞o] |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #25,997 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “despiadado” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for despiadado is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [d̪espjaˈð̞að̞o]. Corpus data places it at rank #25,997 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Que no tiene o muestra piedad.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for despiadado, with forms such as "ddespiadado", "depsiadado", and "desipadado". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "desplazado", "despistado", "despiadados", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Spanish form is despiadado, spelled D-E-S-P-I-A-D-A-D-O.
Definition
- 1Que no tiene o muestra piedad.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddespiadado,depsiadado,desipadado,despaidado,despiaaddo,despiadaddo,despiadaod,despiaddado,despiaddao,despidaado,desppiadado,desspiadado,dsepiadado,edspiadado
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of despiadado - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "despiadado"?
What does "despiadado" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "despiadado"?
How do you pronounce "despiadado"?
What language does "despiadado" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “despiadado”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is D-E-S-P-I-A-D-A-D-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [d̪espjaˈð̞að̞o] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “desplazado” - see the side-by-side comparison. despiadado vs desplazado
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.