denvsdonoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,020
“den” frequency rank
#41,874
“dono” frequency rank
43894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature den dono
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de dar o de darse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de donar.

Where the eye mixes den and dono

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
den
4 ch
dono

Visual trap between den and dono

A purely visual mix-up. den ([ˈd̪ẽn]) and dono ([ˈd̪ono]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

den is recorded at frequency rank #2,020, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ẽn]. dono is at rank #41,874, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ono].

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 43894, this pair ranks #140,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of den vs dono

Shared letters: dn. Private to "den": e. Private to "dono": o.

"den" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dono" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • donoddono · dnoo · donno · doon · odno

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "den" and "dono" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪ẽn] versus [ˈd̪ono]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "den" or "dono"?
"den" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,020 in our Spanish list, against #41,874 for "dono". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "den" and "dono" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "den" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dono" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #140,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "den" and "dono" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dono vs dont". 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 #140,088 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