desafíavsdesafíosWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#23,749
“desafía” frequency rank
#7,704
“desafíos” frequency rank
31453
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desafía desafíos
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de desafiar. Forma del plural de desafío.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set desafía and desafíos apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
desafía
8 ch
desafíos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desafía is [d̪esaˈfia] while desafíos is [d̪esaˈfios]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desafía is recorded at frequency rank #23,749, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esaˈfia]. desafíos is at rank #7,704, tagged as anoun, pronounced [d̪esaˈfios].

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 31453, this pair ranks #207,010 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of desafía vs desafíos

Shared letters: adefsí. Private to "desafía": -. Private to "desafíos": o.

"desafía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "desafíos" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequency comparison

desafía#23,749
desafíos#7,704

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "desafía" and "desafíos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "desafía" is a verb and "desafíos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "desafía" or "desafíos"?
"desafíos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,704 in our Spanish list, against #23,749 for "desafía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering desafía vs desafíos

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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