dejadovsdelgadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,406
“dejado” frequency rank
#5,601
“delgado” frequency rank
7007
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dejado delgado
Definition Que no se preocupa de hacer las cosas que le corresponden. De poca anchura corporal.

Where the eye mixes dejado and delgado

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

6 ch
dejado
7 ch
delgado

Why the eye confuses dejado with delgado

A purely visual mix-up. dejado ([d̪eˈxað̞o]) and delgado ([d̪elˈɣ̞að̞o]) 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 7007, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dejado is recorded at frequency rank #1,406, classified as anadj, pronounced [d̪eˈxað̞o]. delgado is at rank #5,601, tagged as anadj, pronounced [d̪elˈɣ̞að̞o].

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 7007, this pair ranks #309,197 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dejado vs delgado

Shared letters: adeo. Private to "dejado": j. Private to "delgado": gl.

"dejado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "delgado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dejadoddejado · deajdo · dejaddo · dejaod · dejdao · dejjado · djeado · edjado
  • delgadoddelgado · deglado · delagdo · delgaddo · delgaod · delgdao · delggado · dellgado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dejado" for "delgado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈxað̞o] versus [d̪elˈɣ̞að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dejado" vs "delgado" - which ranks higher?
"dejado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,406 in our Spanish list, against #5,601 for "delgado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dejado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "delgado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #309,197 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dejado" and "delgado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delgado vs dragado". 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 #309,197 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