degradavsdeseadaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,041
“degrada” frequency rank
#16,314
“deseada” frequency rank
54355
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature degrada deseada
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de degradar. Forma del femenino de deseado, participio de desear.

Where the eye mixes degrada and deseada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
degrada
7 ch
deseada

Why the eye confuses degrada with deseada

A purely visual mix-up. degrada ([d̪eˈɣ̞ɾað̞a]) and deseada ([d̪eseˈað̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54355, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

degrada is recorded at frequency rank #38,041, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈɣ̞ɾað̞a]. deseada is at rank #16,314, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eseˈað̞a].

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 54355, this pair ranks #83,711 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of degrada vs deseada

Shared letters: ade. Private to "degrada": gr. Private to "deseada": s.

"degrada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "deseada" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • degradaddegrada · degarda · deggrada · degraad · degradda · degrdaa · degrrada · dergada
  • deseadaddeseada · deceada · deesada · desaeda · deseaad · deseadda · desedaa · desseada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "degrada" and "deseada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈɣ̞ɾað̞a] versus [d̪eseˈað̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "degrada" vs "deseada" - which ranks higher?
"deseada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,314 in our Spanish list, against #38,041 for "degrada". 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 "degrada" and "deseada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "degrada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deseada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #83,711 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "degrada" and "deseada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "degrada vs degradar". 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 #83,711 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