desarrollanvsdesarrollarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,414
“desarrollan” frequency rank
#2,288
“desarrollar” frequency rank
9702
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desarrollan desarrollar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de desarrollar o de desarrollarse. Desplegar, estirar lo que estaba arrollado.

Where the eye mixes desarrollan and desarrollar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. desarrollan and desarrollar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
desarrollan
11 ch
desarrollar

Visual trap between desarrollan and desarrollar

A purely visual mix-up. desarrollan ([d̪esaˈroʝãn]) and desarrollar ([d̪esaroˈʝaɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “desarrollan” becomes r in “desarrollar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9702, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desarrollan is recorded at frequency rank #7,414, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esaˈroʝãn]. desarrollar is at rank #2,288, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esaroˈʝaɾ].

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 9702, this pair ranks #301,092 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of desarrollan vs desarrollar

Shared letters: adelors. Private to "desarrollan": n. Private to "desarrollar": -.

"desarrollan" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC  ·  "desarrollar" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desarrollan ← ddesarrollan · deasrrollan · desarollan · desarorllan · desarrlolan · desarrolaln · desarrolan · desarrollann
  • desarrollar ← ddesarrollar · deasrrollar · desarollar · desarorllar · desarrlolar · desarrolalr · desarrolar · desarrollarr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "desarrollan" and "desarrollar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esaˈroʝãn] versus [d̪esaroˈʝaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "desarrollan" or "desarrollar"?
"desarrollar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,288 in our Spanish list, against #7,414 for "desarrollan". 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 "desarrollan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desarrollar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,092 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desarrollan" and "desarrollar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desarrollan 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 #301,092 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