derivavsderivenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,510
“deriva” frequency rank
#47,055
“deriven” frequency rank
53565
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deriva deriven
Definition Desvío de una embarcación con respecto al rumbo trazado debido a la corriente. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de derivar o de derivarse.

Where the eye mixes deriva and deriven

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. deriva runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against deriven's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
deriva
7 ch
deriven

Visual trap between deriva and deriven

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deriva is [d̪eˈɾiβ̞a] while deriven is [d̪eˈɾiβ̞ẽn]. 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 53565, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deriva is recorded at frequency rank #6,510, classified as anoun, pronounced [d̪eˈɾiβ̞a]. deriven is at rank #47,055, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈɾiβ̞ẽn].

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 53565, this pair ranks #87,268 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of deriva vs deriven

Shared letters: deirv. Private to "deriva": a. Private to "deriven": n.

"deriva" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "deriven" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deriva ← dderiva · deirva · deriav · deriba · derivva · derriva · dervia · dreiva
  • deriven ← dderiven · deirven · deriben · derievn · derivenn · derivne · derivven · derriven

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "deriva" and "deriven" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deriva" is a noun and "deriven" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "deriva" or "deriven" show up more?
"deriva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,510 in our Spanish list, against #47,055 for "deriven". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deriva" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deriven" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,268 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deriva" and "deriven" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deriven vs driver". 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 #87,268 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