decaídovsdejandoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,678
“decaído” frequency rank
#1,764
“dejando” frequency rank
46442
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decaído dejando
Definition Participio de decaer. Gerundio de dejar.

Where the eye mixes decaído and dejando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
decaído
7 ch
dejando

Look-alike desk: decaído vs dejando

A purely visual mix-up. decaído ([d̪ekaˈið̞o]) and dejando ([d̪eˈxãn̪d̪o]) 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 46442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decaído is recorded at frequency rank #44,678, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪ekaˈið̞o]. dejando is at rank #1,764, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈxãn̪d̪o].

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 46442, this pair ranks #125,689 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of decaído vs dejando

Shared letters: adeo. Private to "decaído": . Private to "dejando": jn.

"decaído" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "dejando" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dejandoddejando · deajndo · dejadno · dejanddo · dejanndo · dejanod · dejjando · dejnado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "decaído" and "dejando" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪ekaˈið̞o] versus [d̪eˈxãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "decaído" or "dejando"?
"dejando" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,764 in our Spanish list, against #44,678 for "decaído". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "decaído" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dejando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,689 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decaído" and "dejando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decaído vs decid". 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 #125,689 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