despedidasvsdespedidosConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,635
“despedidas” frequency rank
#18,510
“despedidos” frequency rank
40145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despedidas despedidos
Definition Forma del femenino plural de despedido, participio de despedir. Forma del plural de despedido, participio de despedir.

Where the eye mixes despedidas and despedidos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. despedidas and despedidos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
despedidas
10 ch
despedidos

Why the eye confuses despedidas with despedidos

A purely visual mix-up. despedidas ([d̪espeˈð̞ið̞as]) and despedidos ([d̪espeˈð̞ið̞os]) 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 - a in “despedidas” becomes o in “despedidos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despedidas is recorded at frequency rank #21,635, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪espeˈð̞ið̞as]. despedidos is at rank #18,510, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪espeˈð̞ið̞os].

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 40145, this pair ranks #160,641 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of despedidas vs despedidos

Shared letters: deips. Private to "despedidas": a. Private to "despedidos": o.

"despedidas" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "despedidos" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despedidas ← ddespedidas · depsedidas · desepdidas · despdeidas · despeddias · despeddidas · despediads · despedidass
  • despedidos ← ddespedidos · depsedidos · desepdidos · despdeidos · despeddidos · despeddios · despediddos · despedidoss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "despedidas" and "despedidos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪espeˈð̞ið̞as] versus [d̪espeˈð̞ið̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "despedidas" or "despedidos" show up more?
"despedidos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,510 in our Spanish list, against #21,635 for "despedidas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "despedidas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despedidos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,641 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despedidas" and "despedidos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despedidos vs despejados". 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 #160,641 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