despertévsdespiertesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,800
“desperté” frequency rank
#35,457
“despiertes” frequency rank
45257
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desperté despiertes
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de despertar o de despertarse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de despertar o de despertarse.

Where the eye mixes desperté and despiertes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
desperté
10 ch
despiertes

Look-alike desk: desperté vs despiertes

A purely visual mix-up. desperté ([d̪espeɾˈt̪e]) and despiertes ([d̪esˈpjeɾt̪es]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desperté is recorded at frequency rank #9,800, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪espeɾˈt̪e]. despiertes is at rank #35,457, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪es].

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 45257, this pair ranks #132,479 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of desperté vs despiertes

Shared letters: deprst. Private to "desperté": é. Private to "despiertes": i.

"desperté" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "despiertes" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despiertesddespiertes · depsiertes · desipertes · despeirtes · despierets · despierrtes · despiertess · despiertse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "desperté" and "despiertes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪espeɾˈt̪e] versus [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪es]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "desperté" or "despiertes"?
"desperté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,800 in our Spanish list, against #35,457 for "despiertes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "desperté" and "despiertes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "desperté" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despiertes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #132,479 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desperté" and "despiertes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despiertas vs despiertes". 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 #132,479 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