demasíavsdesafíaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: demasía is a noun, desafía is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“demasía” is a noun and “desafía” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,102
“demasía” frequency rank
#23,749
“desafía” frequency rank
67851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demasía desafía
Definition Exceso. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de desafiar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set demasía and desafía apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
demasía
7 ch
desafía

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: demasía is [d̪emaˈsia] while desafía is [d̪esaˈfia]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

demasía is recorded at frequency rank #44,102, classified as anoun, pronounced [d̪emaˈsia]. desafía is at rank #23,749, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esaˈfia].

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 67851, this pair ranks #36,053 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of demasía vs desafía

Shared letters: adesí. Private to "demasía": m. Private to "desafía": f.

"demasía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "desafía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequency comparison

demasía#44,102
desafía#23,749

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "demasía" and "desafía" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "demasía" is a noun and "desafía" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "demasía" or "desafía"?
"desafía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,749 in our Spanish list, against #44,102 for "demasía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering demasía vs desafía

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “demasía”; for a verb, it's “desafía”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “demasía” 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