Which to use
“década” is a noun and “dictada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,078
- “década” frequency rank
- #19,987
- “dictada” frequency rank
- 22065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | década | dictada |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Período de diez años. | Forma del femenino de dictado, participio de dictar. |
Where the eye mixes década and dictada
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: década vs dictada
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: década is [ˈd̪ekað̞a] while dictada is [d̪ikˈt̪að̞a]. 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 (noun vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
década is recorded at frequency rank #2,078, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪ekað̞a]. dictada is at rank #19,987, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪ikˈt̪að̞a].
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 22065, this pair ranks #252,101 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of década vs dictada
Shared letters: acd. Private to "década": é. Private to "dictada": it.
"década" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "dictada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dictada ← dcitada · ddictada · dicatda · dicctada · dictaad · dictadda · dictdaa · dicttada
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "década" for "dictada" ever safe?
Frequency check: "década" vs "dictada" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "década" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dictada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #252,101 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "década" and "dictada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dictada vs dictará". 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 #252,101 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.