Which to use
“despertó” is a verb and “disperso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,104
- “despertó” frequency rank
- #38,065
- “disperso” frequency rank
- 46169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | despertó | disperso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de despertar o de despertarse. | Dícese de las cosas cuyas partes están separadas más de lo regular en su clase. |
Where the eye mixes despertó and disperso
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. despertó and disperso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between despertó and disperso
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: despertó is [d̪espeɾˈt̪o] while disperso is [d̪isˈpeɾso]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46169, 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]. disperso is at rank #38,065, tagged as anadj, pronounced [d̪isˈpeɾso].
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 46169, this pair ranks #127,291 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of despertó vs disperso
Shared letters: deprs. Private to "despertó": tó. Private to "disperso": io.
"despertó" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "disperso" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- disperso ← ddisperso · dipserso · diseprso · disperos · disperrso · dispesro · dispperso · dispreso
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "despertó" and "disperso" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "despertó" or "disperso"?
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 "disperso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #127,291 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "despertó" and "disperso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dispensa vs disperso". 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 #127,291 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.