decimevsdécimoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#13,434
“decime” frequency rank
#8,794
“décimo” frequency rank
22228
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decime décimo
Definition Decí (vos), con el enclítico me (pronombre). Que ocupa el puesto siguiente al noveno en una serie ordenada. Ordinal del diez.

Where the eye mixes decime and décimo

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

6 ch
decime
6 ch
décimo

Why the eye confuses decime with décimo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decime is [d̪eˈsime] while décimo is [ˈd̪esimo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22228, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decime is recorded at frequency rank #13,434, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈsime]. 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 22228, this pair ranks #251,322 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of decime vs décimo

Shared letters: cdim. Private to "decime": e. Private to "décimo": .

"decime" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "décimo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decimedceime · ddecime · deccime · deciem · decimme · decmie · deicme · desime

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "decime" and "décimo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "decime" is a verb and "décimo" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "decime" or "décimo"?
"décimo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,794 in our Spanish list, against #13,434 for "decime". 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 "decime" and "décimo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "decime" 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 #251,322 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decime" and "décimo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decae vs decime". 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 #251,322 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