Which to use
“dejó” is a verb and “duelo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #985
- “dejó” frequency rank
- #4,885
- “duelo” frequency rank
- 5870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dejó | duelo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de dejar. | Combate entre dos personas que ha sido previamente acordado entre los participantes, generalmente a consecuencia de una ofensa previa de uno de los contendientes. |
Where the eye mixes dejó and duelo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dejó with duelo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dejó is [d̪eˈxo] while duelo is [ˈd̪welo]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dejó is recorded at frequency rank #985, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈxo]. duelo is at rank #4,885, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪welo].
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 5870, this pair ranks #312,431 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dejó vs duelo
Shared letters: de. Private to "dejó": jó. Private to "duelo": lou.
"dejó" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "duelo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- duelo ← dduelo · deulo · duello · dueol · duleo · udelo
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dejó" and "duelo" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "dejó" or "duelo" show up more?
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 "duelo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #312,431 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dejó" and "duelo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deli vs duelo". 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 #312,431 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.