Which to use
“debe” and “dejen” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #183
- “debe” frequency rank
- #2,286
- “dejen” frequency rank
- 2469
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debe | dejen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de deber. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de dejar o de dejarse. |
Where the eye mixes debe and dejen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between debe and dejen
A purely visual mix-up. debe ([ˈd̪eβ̞e]) and dejen ([ˈd̪exẽn]) 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 2469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
debe is recorded at frequency rank #183, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞e]. dejen is at rank #2,286, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪exẽn].
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 2469, this pair ranks #320,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debe vs dejen
Shared letters: de. Private to "debe": b. Private to "dejen": jn.
"debe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "dejen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "debe" and "dejen" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "debe" vs "dejen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "debe" and "dejen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "debe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dejen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "debe" and "dejen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dejen vs déjense". 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 #320,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.