Which to use
“desarrollada” is a participle and “desarrollan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,843
- “desarrollada” frequency rank
- #7,414
- “desarrollan” frequency rank
- 15257
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desarrollada | desarrollan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del femenino de desarrollado, participio de desarrollar o de desarrollarse. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de desarrollar o de desarrollarse. |
Where the eye mixes desarrollada and desarrollan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. desarrollada runs 12 letters (CVCVCCVCCVCV) against desarrollan's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses desarrollada with desarrollan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desarrollada is [d̪esaroˈʝað̞a] while desarrollan is [d̪esaˈroʝãn]. 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 (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desarrollada is recorded at frequency rank #7,843, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪esaroˈʝað̞a]. desarrollan is at rank #7,414, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esaˈroʝãn].
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 15257, this pair ranks #280,911 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of desarrollada vs desarrollan
Shared letters: adelors. Private to "desarrollada": -. Private to "desarrollan": n.
"desarrollada" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVCV · "desarrollan" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- desarrollada ← ddesarrollada · deasrrollada · desarollada · desarorllada · desarrlolada · desarrolada · desarrolalda · desarrollaad
- desarrollan ← ddesarrollan · deasrrollan · desarollan · desarorllan · desarrlolan · desarrolaln · desarrolan · desarrollann
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "desarrollada" for "desarrollan" ever safe?
Which is more common, "desarrollada" or "desarrollan"?
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 "desarrollada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desarrollan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,911 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desarrollada" and "desarrollan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desarrollada vs desarrollarán". 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 #280,911 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.