decesovsdenegóWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#25,981
“deceso” frequency rank
#47,706
“denegó” frequency rank
73687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deceso denegó
Definition Fin de la vida, en especial de una persona Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de denegar.

Where the eye mixes deceso and denegó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. deceso and denegó follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
deceso
6 ch
denegó

Why the eye confuses deceso with denegó

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deceso is [d̪eˈseso] while denegó is [d̪eneˈɣ̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deceso is recorded at frequency rank #25,981, classified as anoun, pronounced [d̪eˈseso]. denegó is at rank #47,706, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eneˈɣ̞o].

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 73687, this pair ranks #22,809 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deceso vs denegó

Shared letters: de. Private to "deceso": cos. Private to "denegó": gnó.

"deceso" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "denegó" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deceso ← dceeso · ddeceso · decceso · decesso · decseo · deecso · edceso

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "deceso" and "denegó" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deceso" is a noun and "denegó" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "deceso" vs "denegó" - which ranks higher?
"deceso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,981 in our Spanish list, against #47,706 for "denegó". 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 "deceso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denegó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,809 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deceso" and "denegó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denegar vs denegó". 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 #22,809 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