Which to use
“deben” and “duelen” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #510
- “deben” frequency rank
- #17,948
- “duelen” frequency rank
- 18458
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deben | duelen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de deber. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de dolar. |
Where the eye mixes deben and duelen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. deben runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against duelen's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between deben and duelen
A purely visual mix-up. deben ([ˈd̪eβ̞ẽn]) and duelen ([ˈd̪welẽn]) 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 18458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deben is recorded at frequency rank #510, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞ẽn]. duelen is at rank #17,948, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪welẽn].
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 18458, this pair ranks #267,833 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of deben vs duelen
Shared letters: den. Private to "deben": b. Private to "duelen": lu.
"deben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "duelen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "deben" and "duelen" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "deben" vs "duelen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "deben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duelen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #267,833 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deben" and "duelen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duden vs duelen". 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 #267,833 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.