despejadovsdesplegadoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: despejado is a adjective, desplegado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“despejado” is an adjective and “desplegado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,832
“despejado” frequency rank
#21,979
“desplegado” frequency rank
37811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despejado desplegado
Definition Que esta desocupado, o libre de obstaculos, problemas, amenazas, etc. Participio de desplegar.

Where the eye mixes despejado and desplegado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. despejado runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCV) against desplegado's 10 (CVCCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
despejado
10 ch
desplegado

Why the eye confuses despejado with desplegado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: despejado is [d̪espeˈxað̞o] while desplegado is [d̪espleˈɣ̞að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despejado is recorded at frequency rank #15,832, classified as anadj, pronounced [d̪espeˈxað̞o]. desplegado is at rank #21,979, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪espleˈɣ̞að̞o].

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 37811, this pair ranks #173,344 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of despejado vs desplegado

Shared letters: adeops. Private to "despejado": j. Private to "desplegado": gl.

"despejado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV  ·  "desplegado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despejado ← ddespejado · depsejado · desepjado · despeajdo · despejaddo · despejaod · despejdao · despejjado
  • desplegado ← ddesplegado · depslegado · deslpegado · despelgado · despleagdo · desplegaddo · desplegaod · desplegdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "despejado" and "desplegado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "despejado" is an adjective and "desplegado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "despejado" or "desplegado" show up more?
"despejado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,832 in our Spanish list, against #21,979 for "desplegado". 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 "despejado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desplegado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #173,344 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despejado" and "desplegado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desplegado vs desplegaron". 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 #173,344 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