depavsdeparaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#41,846
“depa” frequency rank
#29,151
“depara” frequency rank
70997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature depa depara
Definition Departamento Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de deparar.

Where the eye mixes depa and depara

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. depa runs 4 letters (CVCV) against depara's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
depa
6 ch
depara

Why the eye confuses depa with depara

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: depa is [ˈd̪epa] while depara is [d̪eˈpaɾa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “depa” sits inside “depara”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

depa is recorded at frequency rank #41,846, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪epa]. depara is at rank #29,151, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈpaɾa].

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 70997, this pair ranks #28,460 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of depa vs depara

Shared letters: adep. Private to "depa": -. Private to "depara": r.

"depa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "depara" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • depa ← ddepa · deap · deppa · dpea · edpa
  • depara ← ddepara · deapra · depaar · deparra · deppara · depraa · dpeara · edpara

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "depa" and "depara" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "depa" is a noun and "depara" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "depa" or "depara"?
"depara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,151 in our Spanish list, against #41,846 for "depa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "depa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "depara" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,460 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "depa" and "depara" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "depa vs Deva". 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 #28,460 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