deepvsdetTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#17,937
“deep” frequency rank
#35,459
“det” frequency rank
53396
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes deep and det

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

4 ch
deep
3 ch
det

Why the eye confuses deep with det

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deep is /diːp/ 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 (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deep is recorded at frequency rank #17,937, classified as anadj, pronounced /diːp/. 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 53396, this pair ranks #88,069 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of deep vs det

Shared letters: de. Private to "deep": p. Private to "det": t.

"deep" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "det" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deepddeep · deepp · dep · depe · edep

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "deep" for "det" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deep" is an adjective and "det" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "deep" or "det" show up more?
"deep" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,937 in our Spanish list, against #35,459 for "det". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "deep" 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 #88,069 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deep" and "det" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "det vs dont". 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 #88,069 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