despejavsdespejadaConfusable pair

Quick tell: despeja is a verb, despejada is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“despeja” is a verb and “despejada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,763
“despeja” frequency rank
#30,429
“despejada” frequency rank
71192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despeja despejada
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de despejar. Forma del femenino de despejado, participio de despejar.

Where the eye mixes despeja and despejada

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

7 ch
despeja
9 ch
despejada

Why the eye confuses despeja with despejada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: despeja is [d̪esˈpexa] while despejada is [d̪espeˈxað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “despeja” sits inside “despejada”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despeja is recorded at frequency rank #40,763, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpexa]. despejada is at rank #30,429, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪espeˈxað̞a].

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 71192, this pair ranks #28,029 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of despeja vs despejada

Shared letters: adejps. Private to "despeja": -. Private to "despejada": -.

"despeja" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "despejada" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despeja ← ddespeja · depseja · desepja · despeaj · despejja · despjea · desppeja · desspeja
  • despejada ← ddespejada · depsejada · desepjada · despeajda · despejaad · despejadda · despejdaa · despejjada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "despeja" and "despejada" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "despeja" is a verb and "despejada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "despeja" vs "despejada" - which ranks higher?
"despejada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,429 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "despeja" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despejada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,029 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despeja" and "despejada" 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 #28,029 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