demolidovsdesoladoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,510
“demolido” frequency rank
#32,612
“desolado” frequency rank
69122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demolido desolado
Definition Participio de demoler. Participio de desolar.

Where the eye mixes demolido and desolado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. demolido and desolado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
demolido
8 ch
desolado

Look-alike desk: demolido vs desolado

A purely visual mix-up. demolido ([d̪emoˈlið̞o]) and desolado ([d̪esoˈlað̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

demolido is recorded at frequency rank #36,510, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪emoˈlið̞o]. desolado is at rank #32,612, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esoˈlað̞o].

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 69122, this pair ranks #32,778 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of demolido vs desolado

Shared letters: delo. Private to "demolido": im. Private to "desolado": as.

"demolido" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "desolado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demolido ← ddemolido · demloido · demmolido · demoildo · demoldio · demoliddo · demoliod · demollido
  • desolado ← ddesolado · deoslado · desloado · desoaldo · desoladdo · desolaod · desoldao · desollado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "demolido" for "desolado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪emoˈlið̞o] versus [d̪esoˈlað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "demolido" or "desolado"?
"desolado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,612 in our Spanish list, against #36,510 for "demolido". 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 "demolido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desolado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,778 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "demolido" and "desolado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demoledor vs demolido". 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 #32,778 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