deseadavsdesearConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,314
“deseada” frequency rank
#7,138
“desear” frequency rank
23452
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deseada desear
Definition Forma del femenino de deseado, participio de desear. Querer una cosa con mucho anhelo.

Where the eye mixes deseada and desear

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

7 ch
deseada
6 ch
desear

Visual trap between deseada and desear

A purely visual mix-up. deseada ([d̪eseˈað̞a]) and desear ([d̪eseˈaɾ]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23452, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deseada is recorded at frequency rank #16,314, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eseˈað̞a]. desear is at rank #7,138, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eseˈaɾ].

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 23452, this pair ranks #245,741 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deseada vs desear

Shared letters: ades. Private to "deseada": -. Private to "desear": r.

"deseada" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "desear" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deseadaddeseada · deceada · deesada · desaeda · deseaad · deseadda · desedaa · desseada
  • desearddesear · decear · deesar · desaer · desearr · desera · dessear · dseear

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "deseada" for "desear" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eseˈað̞a] versus [d̪eseˈaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "deseada" or "desear"?
"desear" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,138 in our Spanish list, against #16,314 for "deseada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deseada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desear" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #245,741 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deseada" and "desear" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deseada vs deseosa". 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 #245,741 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