desmayadovsdesmayarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,391
“desmayado” frequency rank
#48,350
“desmayar” frequency rank
90741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desmayado desmayar
Definition Participio de desmayar. Causar desmayo.

Where the eye mixes desmayado and desmayar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. desmayado runs 9 letters (CVCCVVVCV) against desmayar's 8 (CVCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
desmayado
8 ch
desmayar

Visual trap between desmayado and desmayar

A purely visual mix-up. desmayado ([d̪esmaˈʝað̞o]) and desmayar ([d̪esmaˈʝaɾ]) 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 90741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desmayado is recorded at frequency rank #42,391, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esmaˈʝað̞o]. desmayar is at rank #48,350, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esmaˈʝaɾ].

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 90741, this pair ranks #2,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of desmayado vs desmayar

Shared letters: ademsy. Private to "desmayado": o. Private to "desmayar": r.

"desmayado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCV  ·  "desmayar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desmayado ← ddesmayado · demsayado · desamyado · desmaaydo · desmayaddo · desmayaod · desmaydao · desmayyado
  • desmayar ← ddesmayar · demsayar · desamyar · desmaayr · desmayarr · desmayra · desmayyar · desmmayar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "desmayado" for "desmayar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esmaˈʝað̞o] versus [d̪esmaˈʝaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "desmayado" vs "desmayar" - which ranks higher?
"desmayado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,391 in our Spanish list, against #48,350 for "desmayar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "desmayado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desmayar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desmayado" and "desmayar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desmayar vs desmayos". 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 #2,338 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