decaevsdejarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,929
“decae” frequency rank
#392
“dejar” frequency rank
49321
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decae dejar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de decaer. Depositar o colocar una cosa en su sitio.

Where the eye mixes decae and dejar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
decae
5 ch
dejar

Why the eye confuses decae with dejar

A purely visual mix-up. decae ([d̪eˈkae]) and dejar ([d̪eˈxaɾ]) 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 49321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decae is recorded at frequency rank #48,929, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈkae]. dejar is at rank #392, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈxaɾ].

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 49321, this pair ranks #109,507 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of decae vs dejar

Shared letters: ade. Private to "decae": c. Private to "dejar": jr.

"decae" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "dejar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decaedceae · ddecae · deace · deccae · edcae
  • dejarddejar · deajr · dejarr · dejjar · dejra · djear · edjar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "decae" and "dejar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈkae] versus [d̪eˈxaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "decae" or "dejar" show up more?
"dejar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #392 in our Spanish list, against #48,929 for "decae". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "decae" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dejar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,507 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decae" and "dejar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decae 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 #109,507 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