Which to use
“dear” is an adjective and “deja” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,148
- “dear” frequency rank
- #496
- “deja” frequency rank
- 39644
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dear | deja |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Querido. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de dejar o de dejarse. |
Where the eye mixes dear and deja
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dear and deja
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dear is /dɪə/ while deja is [ˈd̪exa]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39644, 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/. deja is at rank #496, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪exa].
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 39644, this pair ranks #163,427 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dear vs deja
Shared letters: ade. Private to "dear": r. Private to "deja": j.
"dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "deja" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dear" for "deja" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dear" or "deja"?
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 "dear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deja" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,427 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dear" and "deja" 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 #163,427 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.