decíavsdecoraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,136
“decía” frequency rank
#41,290
“decora” frequency rank
42426
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decía decora
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de decir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de decorar.

Where the eye mixes decía and decora

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
decía
6 ch
decora

Why the eye confuses decía with decora

A purely visual mix-up. decía ([d̪eˈsia]) and decora ([d̪eˈkoɾa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decía is recorded at frequency rank #1,136, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈsia]. decora is at rank #41,290, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈkoɾa].

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 42426, this pair ranks #148,275 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of decía vs decora

Shared letters: acde. Private to "decía": í. Private to "decora": or.

"decía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "decora" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decoradceora · ddecora · deccora · decoar · decroa · deocra · edcora

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "decía" for "decora" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈsia] versus [d̪eˈkoɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "decía" or "decora"?
"decía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,136 in our Spanish list, against #41,290 for "decora". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "decía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "decora" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #148,275 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decía" and "decora" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decora vs decoran". 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 #148,275 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