deberíanvsdejaríanTell them apart

Which to use

“deberían” and “dejarían” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,339
“deberían” frequency rank
#21,295
“dejarían” frequency rank
22634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deberían dejarían
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del condicional de deber. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del condicional de dejar.

Where the eye mixes deberían and dejarían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. deberían and dejarían follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
deberían
8 ch
dejarían

Visual trap between deberían and dejarían

A purely visual mix-up. deberían ([d̪eβ̞eˈɾiãn]) and dejarían ([d̪exaˈɾiãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deberían is recorded at frequency rank #1,339, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eβ̞eˈɾiãn]. dejarían is at rank #21,295, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪exaˈɾiãn].

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 22634, this pair ranks #249,426 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deberían vs dejarían

Shared letters: adenrí. Private to "deberían": b. Private to "dejarían": j.

"deberían" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "dejarían" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deberían" and "dejarían" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eβ̞eˈɾiãn] versus [d̪exaˈɾiãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "deberían" vs "dejarían" - which ranks higher?
"deberían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,339 in our Spanish list, against #21,295 for "dejarían". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deberían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dejarían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #249,426 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deberían" and "dejarían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dejarían vs desafían". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #249,426 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list