desarrollovsdesarrollosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#326
“desarrollo” frequency rank
#13,222
“desarrollos” frequency rank
13548
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desarrollo desarrollos
Definition Acción o efecto de desarrollar o de desarrollarse. Forma del plural de desarrollo.

Where the eye mixes desarrollo and desarrollos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. desarrollo runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCCV) against desarrollos's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
desarrollo
11 ch
desarrollos

Visual trap between desarrollo and desarrollos

A purely visual mix-up. desarrollo ([d̪esaˈroʝo]) and desarrollos ([d̪esaˈroʝos]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “desarrollo” sits inside “desarrollos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desarrollo is recorded at frequency rank #326, classified as anoun, pronounced [d̪esaˈroʝo]. desarrollos is at rank #13,222, tagged as anoun, pronounced [d̪esaˈroʝos].

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 13548, this pair ranks #287,450 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of desarrollo vs desarrollos

Shared letters: adelors. Private to "desarrollo": -. Private to "desarrollos": -.

"desarrollo" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV  ·  "desarrollos" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desarrollo ← ddesarrollo · deasrrollo · desarollo · desarorllo · desarrlolo · desarrolo · desarrolol · desrarollo
  • desarrollos ← ddesarrollos · deasrrollos · desarollos · desarorllos · desarrlolos · desarrolloss · desarrollso · desarrolols

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "desarrollo" for "desarrollos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esaˈroʝo] versus [d̪esaˈroʝos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "desarrollo" or "desarrollos"?
"desarrollo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #326 in our Spanish list, against #13,222 for "desarrollos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "desarrollo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desarrollos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #287,450 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desarrollo" and "desarrollos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desarrollen vs desarrollos". 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 #287,450 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