detective
[d̪et̪ekˈt̪iβ̞e]
The verdict
“detective” is a regularly-used Spanish word, ranked #9,975 in Spanish word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,975
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Oficial de policía o investigador privado cuya función es buscar información como evidencia para resolver un crimen.
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 | detective |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [d̪et̪ekˈt̪iβ̞e] |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #9,975 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “detective” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for detective is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [d̪et̪ekˈt̪iβ̞e]. Corpus data places it at rank #9,975 in overall Spanish word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Oficial de policía o investigador privado cuya función es buscar información como evidencia para resolver un crimen.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for detective, with forms such as "ddetective", "deetctive", and "detcetive". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "detectives", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is detective, spelled D-E-T-E-C-T-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1Oficial de policía o investigador privado cuya función es buscar información como evidencia para resolver un crimen.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddetective,deetctive,detcetive,detecctive,detecitve,detectibe,detectiev,detectivve,detecttive,detectvie,detetcive,dettective,dteective,edtective
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of detective - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "detective"?
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Using “detective”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is D-E-T-E-C-T-I-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [d̪et̪ekˈt̪iβ̞e] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “detectives” - see the side-by-side comparison. detective vs detectives
- 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.