Which to use
“despertó” is a verb and “despiertos” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,104
- “despertó” frequency rank
- #22,324
- “despiertos” frequency rank
- 30428
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | despertó | despiertos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de despertar o de despertarse. | Forma del plural de despierto. |
Where the eye mixes despertó and despiertos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. despertó runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against despiertos's 10 (CVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between despertó and despiertos
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: despertó is [d̪espeɾˈt̪o] while despiertos is [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
despertó is recorded at frequency rank #8,104, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪espeɾˈt̪o]. despiertos is at rank #22,324, tagged as anadj, pronounced [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪os].
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 30428, this pair ranks #212,027 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of despertó vs despiertos
Shared letters: deprst. Private to "despertó": ó. Private to "despiertos": io.
"despertó" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "despiertos" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- despiertos ← ddespiertos · depsiertos · desipertos · despeirtos · despierots · despierrtos · despiertoss · despiertso
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "despertó" and "despiertos" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "despertó" or "despiertos" show up more?
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 "despertó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "despiertos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #212,027 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "despertó" and "despiertos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despiertes vs despiertos". 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 #212,027 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.