Which to use
“deban” is a verb and “desván” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,332
- “deban” frequency rank
- #43,520
- “desván” frequency rank
- 57852
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deban | desván |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de deber. | Parte más alta de la casa, que tiene por cubierta el tejado y que generalmente sirve para guardar objetos desusados. |
Where the eye mixes deban and desván
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. deban runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against desván's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: deban vs desván
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deban is [ˈd̪eβ̞ãn] while desván is [d̪esˈβ̞ãn]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deban is recorded at frequency rank #14,332, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞ãn]. desván is at rank #43,520, tagged as anoun, pronounced [d̪esˈβ̞ãn].
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 57852, this pair ranks #68,825 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of deban vs desván
Shared letters: den. Private to "deban": ab. Private to "desván": svá.
"deban" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "desván" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- deban ← dbean · ddeban · deabn · debann · debban · debna · devan · edban
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "deban" and "desván" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "deban" or "desván" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "deban" and "desván" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "deban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desván" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,825 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deban" and "desván" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desván 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 #68,825 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.