dañavsdebaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,808
“daña” frequency rank
#5,944
“deba” frequency rank
22752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature daña deba
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de dañar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de deber.

Where the eye mixes daña and deba

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
daña
4 ch
deba

Visual trap between daña and deba

A purely visual mix-up. daña ([ˈd̪aɲa]) and deba ([ˈd̪eβ̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22752, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

daña is recorded at frequency rank #16,808, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪aɲa]. deba is at rank #5,944, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞a].

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 22752, this pair ranks #248,886 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of daña vs deba

Shared letters: ad. Private to "daña": ñ. Private to "deba": be.

"daña" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "deba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • debadbea · ddeba · deab · debba · edba

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "daña" and "deba" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪aɲa] versus [ˈd̪eβ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "daña" vs "deba" - which ranks higher?
"deba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,944 in our Spanish list, against #16,808 for "daña". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "daña" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #248,886 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "daña" and "deba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "daña vs dont". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #248,886 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