decovsdetWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: deco is a noun, det is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deco” is a noun and “det” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,289
“deco” frequency rank
#35,459
“det” frequency rank
76748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deco det
Definition Decoración. Él, ella, ello. Caso nominativo, acusativo y dativo del pronombre personal de tercera persona singular de género neutro.

Where the eye mixes deco and det

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
deco
3 ch
det

Look-alike desk: deco vs det

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deco is [ˈd̪eko] while det is [də(t)]. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deco is recorded at frequency rank #41,289, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪eko]. det is at rank #35,459, tagged as apron, pronounced [də(t)].

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 76748, this pair ranks #17,167 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deco vs det

Shared letters: de. Private to "deco": co. Private to "det": t.

"deco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "det" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decodceo · ddeco · decco · deoc · edco

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deco" and "det" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deco" is a noun and "det" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deco" or "det"?
"det" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,459 in our Spanish list, against #41,289 for "deco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "deco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "det" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,167 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deco" and "det" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deco 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

Confusion rank #17,167 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