difícil

[d̪iˈfisil]

/[d̪iˈfisil]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“difícil” has 11 generated spelling variants in the Spanish index at frequency #480. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#480
frequency rank, Spanish
4,885
“D” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Duro, costoso, complicado, no fácil, que requiere mucho trabajo o esfuerzo para poder realizarse.

Corpus desk

Index ES-dificil · difícil · Spanish

difícil · rank #480 · 11 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #480
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,885
  • PHOTO-FINISH debido

Nearest frequency peer: debido (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pares de rango junto al imán ortográfico “difícil”

Misma franja de rareza: útil si un typo cae en un lema vecino

corpus weight

What this shows “difícil” está entre estos pares FrequencyWords; la profundidad de typo se mide aparte en el gráfico de distancia de edición.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

difícil vs difíciles
78% similar
difícil vs déficit
57% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for difícil
PropertyValue
Headworddifícil
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[d̪iˈfisil]
Letters7
Frequency rank#480
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frecuencia del imán ortográfico “difícil”

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.difícilcae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

La escala es logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× más rara). En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “debido” (#479), “dio” (#481), “cultura” (#478). Entre 4,885 lemas con “D”, “difícil” va en #480. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around difícil (IPA [d̪iˈfisil]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #480 among 4,885 “D” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Duro, costoso, complicado, no fácil, que requiere mucho trabajo o esfuerzo para poder realizarse.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for difícil, with forms such as "ddifícil", "dfiícil", and "difcíil". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "difíciles", "déficit", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is difícil, spelled D-I-F-Í-C-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Duro, costoso, complicado, no fácil, que requiere mucho trabajo o esfuerzo para poder realizarse.

Synonyms

arduodemandanteduroexigentepeludo

Antonyms

fácilsimple

This word in other languages

difficult(English)malaisé(Français)schwer(Deutsch)difícil(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddifícil
  • dfiícil
  • difcíil
  • diffícil
  • difíccil
  • difícill
  • difícli
  • difíicl
  • difísil
  • diífcil
  • idfícil

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of difícil - 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.

ddifícil1dfiícil2difcíil2diffícil1difíccil1difícill1difícli2difíicl2
Edit distance from "difícil"

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 "difícil"?
"difícil" is spelled D-I-F-Í-C-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is [d̪iˈfisil].
What does "difícil" mean?
As an adjective, "difícil" means: Duro, costoso, complicado, no fácil, que requiere mucho trabajo o esfuerzo para poder realizarse.
What words are commonly confused with "difícil"?
"difícil" is commonly confused with "difíciles", "déficit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "difícil"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "difícil" is [d̪iˈfisil]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "difícil" come from?
"difícil" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "difícil", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cultura#478estaban#482minutos#488quienes#472

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

segunda11 variantscontrol11 variantsempresas11 variantsoctubre11 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list