delosvsdurosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: delos is a contraction, duros is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“delos” is a contraction and “duros” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,063
“delos” frequency rank
#5,716
“duros” frequency rank
38779
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delos duros
Definition Contracción de la preposición de y el artículo los Forma del masculino plural de duro.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set delos and duros apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
delos
5 ch
duros

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: delos is /ˈde.los/ while duros is [ˈd̪uɾos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delos is recorded at frequency rank #33,063, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.los/. duros is at rank #5,716, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈd̪uɾos].

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 38779, this pair ranks #168,124 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of delos vs duros

Shared letters: dos. Private to "delos": el. Private to "duros": ru.

"delos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "duros" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delosddelos · dellos · deloss · delso · deols · dleos · edlos
  • durosdduros · druos · duors · duross · durros · durso · udros

Frequency comparison

delos#33,063
duros#5,716

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "delos" and "duros" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "delos" is a contraction and "duros" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "delos" or "duros"?
"duros" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,716 in our Spanish list, against #33,063 for "delos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering delos vs duros

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “delos”; for an adjective, it's “duros”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “delos” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list