Which to use
“despierten” is a verb and “despiertos” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,651
- “despierten” frequency rank
- #22,324
- “despiertos” frequency rank
- 42975
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | despierten | despiertos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de despertar o de despertarse. | Forma del plural de despierto. |
Where the eye mixes despierten and despiertos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: despierten vs despiertos
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: despierten is [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪ẽn] while despiertos is [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 42975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
despierten is recorded at frequency rank #20,651, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪ẽn]. 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 42975, this pair ranks #145,223 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of despierten vs despiertos
Shared letters: deiprst. Private to "despierten": n. Private to "despiertos": o.
"despierten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC · "despiertos" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- despierten ← ddespierten · depsierten · desiperten · despeirten · despieretn · despierrten · despiertenn · despiertne
- despiertos ← ddespiertos · depsiertos · desipertos · despeirtos · despierots · despierrtos · despiertoss · despiertso
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "despierten" and "despiertos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "despierten" or "despiertos"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "despierten" 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 #145,223 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "despierten" 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 #145,223 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.