depavsduelaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,846
“depa” frequency rank
#17,414
“duela” frequency rank
59260
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature depa duela
Definition Departamento Cada una de las tablas generalmente encorvadas, de que se componen las pipas, cubas, barriles, toneles, etc.

Where the eye mixes depa and duela

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. depa runs 4 letters (CVCV) against duela's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
depa
5 ch
duela

Look-alike desk: depa vs duela

A purely visual mix-up. depa ([ˈd̪epa]) and duela ([ˈd̪wela]) 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 59260, 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]. duela is at rank #17,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪wela].

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 59260, this pair ranks #63,295 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of depa vs duela

Shared letters: ade. Private to "depa": p. Private to "duela": lu.

"depa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "duela" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • depa ← ddepa · deap · deppa · dpea · edpa
  • duela ← dduela · deula · dueal · duella · dulea · udela

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "depa" for "duela" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪epa] versus [ˈd̪wela]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "depa" or "duela"?
"duela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,414 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "depa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,295 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "depa" and "duela" 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 #63,295 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