datevsdicteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,701
“date” frequency rank
#30,871
“dicte” frequency rank
38572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature date dicte
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú, vos) del imperativo afirmativo de darse (con el pronombre «te» enclítico). Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de dictar.

Where the eye mixes date and dicte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
date
5 ch
dicte

Why the eye confuses date with dicte

A purely visual mix-up. date ([ˈd̪at̪e]) and dicte ([ˈd̪ikt̪e]) 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 38572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

date is recorded at frequency rank #7,701, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪at̪e]. dicte is at rank #30,871, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ikt̪e].

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 38572, this pair ranks #169,269 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of date vs dicte

Shared letters: det. Private to "date": a. Private to "dicte": ci.

"date" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dicte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dateadte · daet · datte · ddate · dtae
  • dictedcite · ddicte · diccte · dicet · dictte · ditce · idcte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "date" for "dicte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪at̪e] versus [ˈd̪ikt̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "date" vs "dicte" - which ranks higher?
"date" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,701 in our Spanish list, against #30,871 for "dicte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "date" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dicte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,269 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "date" and "dicte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decae vs dicte". 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 #169,269 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