depilaciónvsdilaciónWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,750
“depilación” frequency rank
#49,585
“dilación” frequency rank
90335
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature depilación dilación
Definition Remoción del vello. Demora, retraso o detención de un asunto o actividad por cierto tiempo.

Where the eye mixes depilación and dilación

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. depilación runs 10 letters (CVCVCVCVVC) against dilación's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
depilación
8 ch
dilación

Why the eye confuses depilación with dilación

A purely visual mix-up. depilación ([d̪epilaˈsjõn]) and dilación ([d̪ilaˈsjõn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

depilación is recorded at frequency rank #40,750, classified as anoun, pronounced [d̪epilaˈsjõn]. dilación is at rank #49,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced [d̪ilaˈsjõn].

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 90335, this pair ranks #2,579 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of depilación vs dilación

Shared letters: acdilnó. Private to "depilación": ep. Private to "dilación": -.

"depilación" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC  ·  "dilación" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "depilación" and "dilación" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪epilaˈsjõn] versus [d̪ilaˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "depilación" or "dilación" show up more?
"depilación" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,750 in our Spanish list, against #49,585 for "dilación". 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 "depilación" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dilación" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,579 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "depilación" and "dilación" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "datación vs dilación". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,579 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