decaevsdepreTell them apart

Quick tell: decae is a verb, depre is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“decae” is a verb and “depre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,929
“decae” frequency rank
#46,477
“depre” frequency rank
95406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decae depre
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de decaer. Depresión.

Where the eye mixes decae and depre

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

5 ch
decae
5 ch
depre

Why the eye confuses decae with depre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decae is [d̪eˈkae] while depre is [ˈd̪epɾe]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 95406, 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]. depre is at rank #46,477, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪epɾe].

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 95406, this pair ranks #548 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of decae vs depre

Shared letters: de. Private to "decae": ac. Private to "depre": pr.

"decae" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "depre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decaedceae · ddecae · deace · deccae · edcae
  • depreddepre · deper · deppre · deprre · derpe · dpere · edpre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "decae" and "depre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "decae" is a verb and "depre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "decae" or "depre" show up more?
"depre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,477 in our Spanish list, against #48,929 for "decae". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "depre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #548 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decae" and "depre" 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 #548 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