desmedidavsdespedidaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,862
“desmedida” frequency rank
#6,169
“despedida” frequency rank
37031
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desmedida despedida
Definition Forma del femenino de desmedido, participio de desmedirse. Forma del femenino de despedido, participio de despedir.

Where the eye mixes desmedida and despedida

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. desmedida and despedida follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
desmedida
9 ch
despedida

Why the eye confuses desmedida with despedida

A purely visual mix-up. desmedida ([d̪esmeˈð̞ið̞a]) and despedida ([d̪espeˈð̞ið̞a]) 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 a single letter - m in “desmedida” becomes p in “despedida”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desmedida is recorded at frequency rank #30,862, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪esmeˈð̞ið̞a]. despedida is at rank #6,169, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪espeˈð̞ið̞a].

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 37031, this pair ranks #177,502 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of desmedida vs despedida

Shared letters: adeis. Private to "desmedida": m. Private to "despedida": p.

"desmedida" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV  ·  "despedida" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desmedida ← ddesmedida · demsedida · desemdida · desmdeida · desmeddia · desmeddida · desmediad · desmedidda
  • despedida ← ddespedida · depsedida · desepdida · despdeida · despeddia · despeddida · despediad · despedidda

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "desmedida" and "despedida" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esmeˈð̞ið̞a] versus [d̪espeˈð̞ið̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "desmedida" vs "despedida" - which ranks higher?
"despedida" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,169 in our Spanish list, against #30,862 for "desmedida". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "desmedida" and "despedida" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "desmedida" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despedida" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,502 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desmedida" and "despedida" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desmedida vs desmedido". 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 #177,502 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