Which to use
“dear” is an adjective and “decir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,148
- “dear” frequency rank
- #131
- “decir” frequency rank
- 39279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dear | decir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Querido. | Manifestar con palabras el pensamiento. |
Where the eye mixes dear and decir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dear runs 4 letters (CVVC) against decir's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dear and decir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dear is /dɪə/ while decir is [d̪eˈsiɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dear is recorded at frequency rank #39,148, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɪə/. decir is at rank #131, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈsiɾ].
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 39279, this pair ranks #165,453 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dear vs decir
Shared letters: der. Private to "dear": a. Private to "decir": ci.
"dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "decir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dear" for "decir" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dear" vs "decir" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dear" and "decir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "decir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #165,453 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dear" and "decir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dear 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 #165,453 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.