defendervsdependeTell them apart

Quick tell: defender is a verb, depende is a phrase, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“defender” is a verb and “depende” is a phrase - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,894
“defender” frequency rank
#1,633
“depende” frequency rank
3527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature defender depende
Definition Mantener algo o alguien a salvo de un daño o perjuicio. Expresión para indicar que algo es contingente o se acepta solo bajo determinadas condiciones..

Where the eye mixes defender and depende

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
defender
7 ch
depende

Look-alike desk: defender vs depende

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: defender is [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ] while depende is [d̪eˈpẽn̪d̪e]. 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 phrase), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

defender is recorded at frequency rank #1,894, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]. depende is at rank #1,633, tagged as aphrase, pronounced [d̪eˈpẽn̪d̪e].

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 3527, this pair ranks #318,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of defender vs depende

Shared letters: den. Private to "defender": fr. Private to "depende": p.

"defender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "depende" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • defenderddefender · deefnder · defedner · defendder · defenderr · defendre · defenedr · defennder
  • dependeddepende · deepnde · depedne · dependde · depened · depennde · depnede · deppende

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "defender" for "depende" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "defender" is a verb and "depende" a phrase, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "defender" or "depende" show up more?
"depende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,633 in our Spanish list, against #1,894 for "defender". 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 "defender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "depende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "defender" and "depende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déjense vs depende". 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 #318,116 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