Which to use
“decía” is a verb and “dela” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,136
- “decía” frequency rank
- #20,645
- “dela” frequency rank
- 21781
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decía | dela |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de decir. | Contracción de la preposición de y el artículo la |
Where the eye mixes decía and dela
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decía is [d̪eˈsia] while dela is /ˈde.la/. 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 (verb vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21781, 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]. dela is at rank #20,645, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.la/.
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 21781, this pair ranks #253,369 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of decía vs dela
Shared letters: ade. Private to "decía": cí. Private to "dela": l.
"decía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "dela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dela ← ddela · dlea · edla
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "decía" and "dela" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "decía" or "dela"?
What to do next
You've compared "decía" and "dela". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "decía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #253,369 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decía" and "dela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dela 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.