Which to use
“dead” is an adjective and “dedo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,749
- “dead” frequency rank
- #2,823
- “dedo” frequency rank
- 14572
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dead | dedo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Muerto. | Cada uno de los apéndices en que termina la mano. |
Where the eye mixes dead and dedo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dead vs dedo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dead is /dɛd/ while dedo is [ˈd̪eð̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dead is recorded at frequency rank #11,749, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɛd/. dedo is at rank #2,823, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪eð̞o].
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 14572, this pair ranks #283,579 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dead vs dedo
Shared letters: de. Private to "dead": a. Private to "dedo": o.
"dead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dedo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dead" for "dedo" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "dead" or "dedo" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dead" and "dedo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dead" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dedo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,579 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dead" and "dedo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dead vs Deva". 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 #283,579 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.