despidanvsdespidióWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,640
“despidan” frequency rank
#13,226
“despidió” frequency rank
51866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despidan despidió
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de despedir o de despedirse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de despedir o de despedirse.

Where the eye mixes despidan and despidió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. despidan (CVCCVCVC) and despidió (CVCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
despidan
8 ch
despidió

Why the eye confuses despidan with despidió

A purely visual mix-up. despidan ([d̪esˈpið̞ãn]) and despidió ([d̪espiˈð̞jo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despidan is recorded at frequency rank #38,640, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpið̞ãn]. despidió is at rank #13,226, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪espiˈð̞jo].

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 51866, this pair ranks #95,631 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of despidan vs despidió

Shared letters: deips. Private to "despidan": an. Private to "despidió": ó.

"despidan" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "despidió" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despidan ← ddespidan · depsidan · desipdan · despdian · despiadn · despidann · despiddan · despidna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "despidan" and "despidió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esˈpið̞ãn] versus [d̪espiˈð̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "despidan" or "despidió" show up more?
"despidió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,226 in our Spanish list, against #38,640 for "despidan". 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 "despidan" and "despidió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "despidan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despidió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,631 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despidan" and "despidió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despidan vs desvían". 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 #95,631 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