delegadavsdenegadaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,505
“delegada” frequency rank
#34,049
“denegada” frequency rank
52554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delegada denegada
Definition Forma del femenino de delegado, participio de delegar. Forma del femenino de denegado, participio de denegar.

Where the eye mixes delegada and denegada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. delegada and denegada follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
delegada
8 ch
denegada

Why the eye confuses delegada with denegada

A purely visual mix-up. delegada ([d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞a]) and denegada ([d̪eneˈɣ̞að̞a]) 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 a single letter - l in “delegada” becomes n in “denegada”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delegada is recorded at frequency rank #18,505, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞a]. denegada is at rank #34,049, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪eneˈɣ̞að̞a].

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 52554, this pair ranks #92,131 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of delegada vs denegada

Shared letters: adeg. Private to "delegada": l. Private to "denegada": n.

"delegada" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "denegada" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delegada ← ddelegada · deelgada · deleagda · delegaad · delegadda · delegdaa · deleggada · delgeada
  • denegada ← ddenegada · deengada · deneagda · denegaad · denegadda · denegdaa · deneggada · dengeada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "delegada" and "denegada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞a] versus [d̪eneˈɣ̞að̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "delegada" vs "denegada" - which ranks higher?
"delegada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,505 in our Spanish list, against #34,049 for "denegada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "delegada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denegada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,131 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delegada" and "denegada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denegada vs denegar". 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 #92,131 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