delatavsdesatarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,855
“delata” frequency rank
#26,800
“desatar” frequency rank
57655
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delata desatar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de delatar. Quitar ligaduras o nudos; soltar lo que estaba amarrado.

Where the eye mixes delata and desatar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. delata runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against desatar's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
delata
7 ch
desatar

Visual trap between delata and desatar

A purely visual mix-up. delata ([d̪eˈlat̪a]) and desatar ([d̪esaˈt̪aɾ]) 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 57655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delata is recorded at frequency rank #30,855, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈlat̪a]. desatar is at rank #26,800, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esaˈt̪aɾ].

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 57655, this pair ranks #69,626 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of delata vs desatar

Shared letters: adet. Private to "delata": l. Private to "desatar": rs.

"delata" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "desatar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delata ← ddelata · dealta · delaat · delatta · dellata · deltaa · dleata · edlata
  • desatar ← ddesatar · deastar · desaatr · desatarr · desatra · desattar · dessatar · destaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "delata" and "desatar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈlat̪a] versus [d̪esaˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "delata" or "desatar"?
"desatar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,800 in our Spanish list, against #30,855 for "delata". 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 "delata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desatar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,626 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delata" and "desatar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delata vs delatan". 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 #69,626 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