Which to use
“despierto” and “despiertos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,284
- “despierto” frequency rank
- #22,324
- “despiertos” frequency rank
- 28608
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | despierto | despiertos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En estado de vigilia, no durmiendo. | Forma del plural de despierto. |
Where the eye mixes despierto and despiertos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses despierto with despiertos
A purely visual mix-up. despierto ([d̪esˈpjeɾt̪o]) and despiertos ([d̪esˈpjeɾt̪os]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “despierto” sits inside “despiertos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
despierto is recorded at frequency rank #6,284, classified as anadj, pronounced [d̪esˈpjeɾt̪o]. 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 28608, this pair ranks #221,169 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of despierto vs despiertos
Shared letters: deioprst. Private to "despierto": -. Private to "despiertos": -.
"despierto" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCV · "despiertos" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- despierto ← ddespierto · depsierto · desiperto · despeirto · despierot · despierrto · despiertto · despietro
- despiertos ← ddespiertos · depsiertos · desipertos · despeirtos · despierots · despierrtos · despiertoss · despiertso
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "despierto" and "despiertos" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "despierto" 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 "despierto" 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 #221,169 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "despierto" 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 #221,169 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.