dejóvsdetWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#985
“dejó” frequency rank
#35,459
“det” frequency rank
36444
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dejó det
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de dejar. Él, ella, ello. Caso nominativo, acusativo y dativo del pronombre personal de tercera persona singular de género neutro.

Where the eye mixes dejó and det

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

4 ch
dejó
3 ch
det

Why the eye confuses dejó with det

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dejó is [d̪eˈxo] 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 (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dejó is recorded at frequency rank #985, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈxo]. 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 36444, this pair ranks #180,575 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dejó vs det

Shared letters: de. Private to "dejó": . Private to "det": t.

"dejó" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "det" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dejó" and "det" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dejó" is a verb and "det" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dejó" or "det"?
"dejó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #985 in our Spanish list, against #35,459 for "det". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dejó" 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 #180,575 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dejó" and "det" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "det vs dont". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #180,575 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