despejadosvsdesplegadosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,873
“despejados” frequency rank
#27,955
“desplegados” frequency rank
73828
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despejados desplegados
Definition Forma del plural de despejado, participio de despejar. Forma del plural de desplegado, participio de desplegar.

Where the eye mixes despejados and desplegados

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. despejados runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVC) against desplegados's 11 (CVCCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
despejados
11 ch
desplegados

Look-alike desk: despejados vs desplegados

A purely visual mix-up. despejados ([d̪espeˈxað̞os]) and desplegados ([d̪espleˈɣ̞að̞os]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despejados is recorded at frequency rank #45,873, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪espeˈxað̞os]. desplegados is at rank #27,955, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪espleˈɣ̞að̞os].

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 73828, this pair ranks #22,519 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of despejados vs desplegados

Shared letters: adeops. Private to "despejados": j. Private to "desplegados": gl.

"despejados" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "desplegados" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despejados ← ddespejados · depsejados · desepjados · despeajdos · despejaddos · despejadoss · despejadso · despejaods
  • desplegados ← ddesplegados · depslegados · deslpegados · despelgados · despleagdos · desplegaddos · desplegadoss · desplegadso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "despejados" for "desplegados" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪espeˈxað̞os] versus [d̪espleˈɣ̞að̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "despejados" or "desplegados"?
"desplegados" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,955 in our Spanish list, against #45,873 for "despejados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "despejados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desplegados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,519 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despejados" and "desplegados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despejados vs despojados". 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 #22,519 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