despegarvsdespojarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,558
“despegar” frequency rank
#49,576
“despojar” frequency rank
66134
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despegar despojar
Definition Separarse de la superficie, iniciar el vuelo, especialmente un avión. Privar a uno de lo que goza y tiene; desposeerle de ello con violencia.

Where the eye mixes despegar and despojar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. despegar and despojar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
despegar
8 ch
despojar

Look-alike desk: despegar vs despojar

A purely visual mix-up. despegar ([d̪espeˈɣ̞aɾ]) and despojar ([d̪espoˈxaɾ]) 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 66134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despegar is recorded at frequency rank #16,558, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪espeˈɣ̞aɾ]. despojar is at rank #49,576, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪espoˈxaɾ].

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 66134, this pair ranks #40,668 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of despegar vs despojar

Shared letters: adeprs. Private to "despegar": g. Private to "despojar": jo.

"despegar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "despojar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despegar ← ddespegar · depsegar · desepgar · despeagr · despegarr · despeggar · despegra · despgear
  • despojar ← ddespojar · depsojar · desopjar · despjoar · despoajr · despojarr · despojjar · despojra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "despegar" and "despojar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪espeˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [d̪espoˈxaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "despegar" vs "despojar" - which ranks higher?
"despegar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,558 in our Spanish list, against #49,576 for "despojar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "despegar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despojar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,668 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despegar" and "despojar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despojar vs despojos". 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 #40,668 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