Which to use
“desde” is a preposition and “donde” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #61
- “desde” frequency rank
- #71
- “donde” frequency rank
- 132
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desde | donde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Preposición que indica el origen o inicio de una actividad, tanto en sentido locativo, como cronológico. | Indica el sitio de la acción o hecho. |
Where the eye mixes desde and donde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses desde with donde
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desde is [ˈd̪esð̞e] while donde is [ˈd̪õn̪d̪e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desde is recorded at frequency rank #61, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈd̪esð̞e]. donde is at rank #71, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈd̪õn̪d̪e].
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 132, this pair ranks #323,750 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of desde vs donde
Shared letters: de. Private to "desde": s. Private to "donde": no.
"desde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "donde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "desde" for "donde" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "desde" or "donde" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "donde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,750 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desde" and "donde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "donde vs dont". 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 #323,750 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.