despiertanvsdespiertasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,375
“despiertan” frequency rank
#26,403
“despiertas” frequency rank
45778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despiertan despiertas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de despertar o de despertarse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de despertar o de despertarse.

Where the eye mixes despiertan and despiertas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. despiertan and despiertas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
despiertan
10 ch
despiertas

Why the eye confuses despiertan with despiertas

A purely visual mix-up. despiertan ([d̪esˈpjeɾt̪ãn]) and despiertas ([d̪esˈpjeɾt̪as]) 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 a single letter - n in “despiertan” becomes s in “despiertas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despiertan is recorded at frequency rank #19,375, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪ãn]. despiertas is at rank #26,403, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪as].

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 45778, this pair ranks #129,503 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of despiertan vs despiertas

Shared letters: adeiprst. Private to "despiertan": n. Private to "despiertas": -.

"despiertan" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC  ·  "despiertas" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despiertan ← ddespiertan · depsiertan · desipertan · despeirtan · despieratn · despierrtan · despiertann · despiertna
  • despiertas ← ddespiertas · depsiertas · desipertas · despeirtas · despierats · despierrtas · despiertass · despiertsa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "despiertan" and "despiertas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esˈpjeɾt̪ãn] versus [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "despiertan" or "despiertas"?
"despiertan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,375 in our Spanish list, against #26,403 for "despiertas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "despiertan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despiertas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,503 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despiertan" and "despiertas" 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 #129,503 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