decidióvsdécimoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: decidió is a verb, décimo is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“decidió” is a verb and “décimo” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,893
“decidió” frequency rank
#8,794
“décimo” frequency rank
10687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decidió décimo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de decidir o de decidirse. Que ocupa el puesto siguiente al noveno en una serie ordenada. Ordinal del diez.

Where the eye mixes decidió and décimo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

7 ch
decidió
6 ch
décimo

Why the eye confuses decidió with décimo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decidió is [d̪esiˈð̞jo] while décimo is [ˈd̪esimo]. 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 num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decidió is recorded at frequency rank #1,893, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esiˈð̞jo]. décimo is at rank #8,794, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈd̪esimo].

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 10687, this pair ranks #297,738 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of decidió vs décimo

Shared letters: cdi. Private to "decidió": . Private to "décimo": moé.

"decidió" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "décimo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "decidió" for "décimo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "decidió" is a verb and "décimo" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "decidió" or "décimo" show up more?
"decidió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,893 in our Spanish list, against #8,794 for "décimo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "decidió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décimo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #297,738 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decidió" and "décimo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decaído vs décimo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #297,738 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