despedívsdespejaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,159
“despedí” frequency rank
#40,763
“despeja” frequency rank
79922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despedí despeja
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de despedir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de despejar.

Where the eye mixes despedí and despeja

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

7 ch
despedí
7 ch
despeja

Look-alike desk: despedí vs despeja

A purely visual mix-up. despedí ([d̪espeˈð̞i]) and despeja ([d̪esˈpexa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despedí is recorded at frequency rank #39,159, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪espeˈð̞i]. despeja is at rank #40,763, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpexa].

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 79922, this pair ranks #12,345 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of despedí vs despeja

Shared letters: deps. Private to "despedí": í. Private to "despeja": aj.

"despedí" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "despeja" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despejaddespeja · depseja · desepja · despeaj · despejja · despjea · desppeja · desspeja

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "despedí" for "despeja" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪espeˈð̞i] versus [d̪esˈpexa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "despedí" or "despeja" show up more?
"despedí" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,159 in our Spanish list, against #40,763 for "despeja". 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 "despedí" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despeja" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,345 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despedí" and "despeja" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despeja vs despojar". 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 #12,345 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