defendidovsdevenidoTell them apart

Which to use

“defendido” and “devenido” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,123
“defendido” frequency rank
#46,495
“devenido” frequency rank
56618
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature defendido devenido
Definition Participio de defender o de defenderse. Participio de devenir.

Where the eye mixes defendido and devenido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. defendido runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCV) against devenido's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
defendido
8 ch
devenido

Visual trap between defendido and devenido

A purely visual mix-up. defendido ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ið̞o]) and devenido ([d̪eβ̞eˈnið̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

defendido is recorded at frequency rank #10,123, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ið̞o]. devenido is at rank #46,495, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eβ̞eˈnið̞o].

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 56618, this pair ranks #73,844 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of defendido vs devenido

Shared letters: deino. Private to "defendido": f. Private to "devenido": v.

"defendido" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV  ·  "devenido" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • defendido ← ddefendido · deefndido · defednido · defenddido · defenddio · defendiddo · defendiod · defeniddo
  • devenido ← ddevenido · debenido · deevnido · deveindo · devendio · deveniddo · deveniod · devennido

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "defendido" for "devenido" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪efẽn̪ˈd̪ið̞o] versus [d̪eβ̞eˈnið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "defendido" or "devenido"?
"defendido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,123 in our Spanish list, against #46,495 for "devenido". 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 "defendido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devenido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,844 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "defendido" and "devenido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decenio vs devenido". 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 #73,844 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