delegadovsdesplegadoTell them apart

Quick tell: delegado is a adjective, desplegado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“delegado” is an adjective and “desplegado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,290
“delegado” frequency rank
#21,979
“desplegado” frequency rank
29269
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delegado desplegado
Definition Aquel sobre el que se delega un cargo o una responsabilidad. Participio de desplegar.

Where the eye mixes delegado and desplegado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. delegado runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCV) against desplegado's 10 (CVCCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
delegado
10 ch
desplegado

Why the eye confuses delegado with desplegado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: delegado is [d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞o] while desplegado is [d̪espleˈɣ̞að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delegado is recorded at frequency rank #7,290, classified as anadj, pronounced [d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞o]. desplegado is at rank #21,979, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪espleˈɣ̞að̞o].

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 29269, this pair ranks #217,841 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of delegado vs desplegado

Shared letters: adeglo. Private to "delegado": -. Private to "desplegado": ps.

"delegado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "desplegado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delegado ← ddelegado · deelgado · deleagdo · delegaddo · delegaod · delegdao · deleggado · delgeado
  • desplegado ← ddesplegado · depslegado · deslpegado · despelgado · despleagdo · desplegaddo · desplegaod · desplegdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "delegado" and "desplegado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "delegado" is an adjective and "desplegado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "delegado" vs "desplegado" - which ranks higher?
"delegado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,290 in our Spanish list, against #21,979 for "desplegado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "delegado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desplegado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #217,841 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delegado" and "desplegado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desplegado vs desplegaron". 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 #217,841 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