decívsdejeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#42,935
“decí” frequency rank
#1,765
“deje” frequency rank
44700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decí deje
Definition Segunda persona del singular (vos) del imperativo afirmativo de decir. Parte del habla de una lengua que tiende hacia la manera local de hablarla en un lugar.

Where the eye mixes decí and deje

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. decí and deje follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
decí
4 ch
deje

Visual trap between decí and deje

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decí is [d̪eˈsi] while deje is [ˈd̪exe]. 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 44700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decí is recorded at frequency rank #42,935, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈsi]. deje is at rank #1,765, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪exe].

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 44700, this pair ranks #135,598 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of decí vs deje

Shared letters: de. Private to "decí": cí. Private to "deje": j.

"decí" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "deje" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deje ← ddeje · deej · dejje · djee · edje

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "decí" for "deje" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "decí" is a verb and "deje" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "decí" vs "deje" - which ranks higher?
"deje" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,765 in our Spanish list, against #42,935 for "decí". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "decí" and "deje" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "decí" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deje" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,598 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decí" and "deje" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decí 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 #135,598 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