decesovsdensoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: deceso is a noun, denso is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#25,981
“deceso” frequency rank
#14,335
“denso” frequency rank
40316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deceso denso
Definition Fin de la vida, en especial de una persona Que contiene mucha materia en relación con su volumen.

Where the eye mixes deceso and denso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. deceso runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against denso's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
deceso
5 ch
denso

Visual trap between deceso and denso

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deceso is [d̪eˈseso] while denso is [ˈd̪ẽnso]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40316, 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]. denso is at rank #14,335, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈd̪ẽnso].

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 40316, this pair ranks #159,774 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of deceso vs denso

Shared letters: deos. Private to "deceso": c. Private to "denso": n.

"deceso" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "denso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deceso ← dceeso · ddeceso · decceso · decesso · decseo · deecso · edceso
  • denso ← ddenso · dennso · denos · densso · desno · dneso · ednso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "deceso" for "denso" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deceso" is a noun and "denso" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deceso" or "denso"?
"denso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,335 in our Spanish list, against #25,981 for "deceso". 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 "denso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,774 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deceso" and "denso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deceso 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 #159,774 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