desconfíavsdesconfiadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,023
“desconfía” frequency rank
#33,537
“desconfiado” frequency rank
70560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desconfía desconfiado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de desconfiar. Participio de desconfiar.

Where the eye mixes desconfía and desconfiado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. desconfía runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVV) against desconfiado's 11 (CVCCVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
desconfía
11 ch
desconfiado

Visual trap between desconfía and desconfiado

A purely visual mix-up. desconfía ([d̪eskõɱˈfia]) and desconfiado ([d̪eskõɱˈfjað̞o]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desconfía is recorded at frequency rank #37,023, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eskõɱˈfia]. desconfiado is at rank #33,537, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eskõɱˈfjað̞o].

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 70560, this pair ranks #29,407 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of desconfía vs desconfiado

Shared letters: acdefnos. Private to "desconfía": í. Private to "desconfiado": i.

"desconfía" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV  ·  "desconfiado" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desconfiado ← ddesconfiado · decsonfiado · descconfiado · descnofiado · descofniado · desconfaido · desconffiado · desconfiaddo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "desconfía" and "desconfiado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eskõɱˈfia] versus [d̪eskõɱˈfjað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "desconfía" or "desconfiado"?
"desconfiado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,537 in our Spanish list, against #37,023 for "desconfía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "desconfía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desconfiado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,407 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desconfía" and "desconfiado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desconfía vs desconfiada". 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 #29,407 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