decidiendovsdespidiendoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,211
“decidiendo” frequency rank
#28,328
“despidiendo” frequency rank
53539
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decidiendo despidiendo
Definition Gerundio de decidir. Gerundio irregular de despedir.

Where the eye mixes decidiendo and despidiendo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. decidiendo runs 10 letters (CVCVCVVCCV) against despidiendo's 11 (CVCCVCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
decidiendo
11 ch
despidiendo

Visual trap between decidiendo and despidiendo

A purely visual mix-up. decidiendo ([d̪esiˈð̞jẽn̪d̪o]) and despidiendo ([d̪espiˈð̞jẽn̪d̪o]) 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 53539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decidiendo is recorded at frequency rank #25,211, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esiˈð̞jẽn̪d̪o]. despidiendo is at rank #28,328, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪espiˈð̞jẽn̪d̪o].

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 53539, this pair ranks #87,401 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of decidiendo vs despidiendo

Shared letters: deino. Private to "decidiendo": c. Private to "despidiendo": ps.

"decidiendo" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVCCV  ·  "despidiendo" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decidiendo ← dceidiendo · ddecidiendo · deccidiendo · decdiiendo · deciddiendo · decideindo · decidiedno · decidienddo
  • despidiendo ← ddespidiendo · depsidiendo · desipdiendo · despdiiendo · despiddiendo · despideindo · despidiedno · despidienddo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "decidiendo" for "despidiendo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esiˈð̞jẽn̪d̪o] versus [d̪espiˈð̞jẽn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "decidiendo" or "despidiendo" show up more?
"decidiendo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,211 in our Spanish list, against #28,328 for "despidiendo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "decidiendo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despidiendo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,401 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decidiendo" and "despidiendo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decidiendo vs definiendo". 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 #87,401 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