desdevsdespideWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: desde is a preposition, despide is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“desde” is a preposition and “despide” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#61
“desde” frequency rank
#17,108
“despide” frequency rank
17169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desde despide
Definition Preposición que indica el origen o inicio de una actividad, tanto en sentido locativo, como cronológico. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de despedir.

Where the eye mixes desde and despide

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
desde
7 ch
despide

Visual trap between desde and despide

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desde is [ˈd̪esð̞e] while despide is [d̪esˈpið̞e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desde is recorded at frequency rank #61, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈd̪esð̞e]. despide is at rank #17,108, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpið̞e].

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 17169, this pair ranks #273,276 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of desde vs despide

Shared letters: des. Private to "desde": -. Private to "despide": ip.

"desde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "despide" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desdeddesde · dedse · desdde · desed · dessde · dsede · edsde
  • despideddespide · depside · desipde · despdie · despidde · despied · desppide · desspide

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "desde" and "despide" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "desde" is a preposition and "despide" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "desde" or "despide"?
"desde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #61 in our Spanish list, against #17,108 for "despide". 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 "desde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #273,276 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desde" and "despide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desire vs despide". 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 #273,276 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