depavsdeseaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#41,846
“depa” frequency rank
#2,653
“desea” frequency rank
44499
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
depa
5 ch
desea

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: depa is [ˈd̪epa] while desea is [d̪eˈsea]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44499, 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]. desea is at rank #2,653, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈsea].

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 44499, this pair ranks #136,733 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of depa vs desea

Shared letters: ade. Private to "depa": p. Private to "desea": s.

"depa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "desea" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • depaddepa · deap · deppa · dpea · edpa
  • deseaddesea · decea · deesa · desae · dessea · dseea · edsea

Frequency comparison

depa#41,846
desea#2,653

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "depa" and "desea" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "depa" is a noun and "desea" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "depa" or "desea"?
"desea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,653 in our Spanish list, against #41,846 for "depa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering depa vs desea

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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