Which to use
“decían” is a verb and “design” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,909
- “decían” frequency rank
- #16,813
- “design” frequency rank
- 20722
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decían | design |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de decir. | Una especificación de un objeto o proceso, que se refiere a los requisitos que deben satisfacerse y, por tanto, a las condiciones que deben cumplirse para resolver un problema. |
Where the eye mixes decían and design
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: decían vs design
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decían is [d̪eˈsiãn] while design is /dɪˈzaɪn/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
decían is recorded at frequency rank #3,909, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈsiãn]. design is at rank #16,813, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈzaɪn/.
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 20722, this pair ranks #258,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of decían vs design
Shared letters: den. Private to "decían": ací. Private to "design": gis.
"decían" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "design" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- design ← ddesign · decign · deisgn · desgin · desiggn · designn · desing · dessign
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "decían" and "design" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "decían" or "design"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "decían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "design" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #258,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decían" and "design" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "design vs desire". 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 #258,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.