despojarvsdespojoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: despojar is a verb, despojo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“despojar” is a verb and “despojo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,576
“despojar” frequency rank
#30,864
“despojo” frequency rank
80440
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despojar despojo
Definition Privar a uno de lo que goza y tiene; desposeerle de ello con violencia. Acción o efecto de despojar.

Where the eye mixes despojar and despojo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. despojar runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against despojo's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
despojar
7 ch
despojo

Visual trap between despojar and despojo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: despojar is [d̪espoˈxaɾ] while despojo is [d̪esˈpoxo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80440, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despojar is recorded at frequency rank #49,576, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪espoˈxaɾ]. despojo is at rank #30,864, tagged as anoun, pronounced [d̪esˈpoxo].

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 80440, this pair ranks #11,647 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of despojar vs despojo

Shared letters: dejops. Private to "despojar": ar. Private to "despojo": -.

"despojar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "despojo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despojar ← ddespojar · depsojar · desopjar · despjoar · despoajr · despojarr · despojjar · despojra
  • despojo ← ddespojo · depsojo · desopjo · despjoo · despojjo · despooj · desppojo · desspojo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "despojar" for "despojo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "despojar" is a verb and "despojo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "despojar" or "despojo"?
"despojo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,864 in our Spanish list, against #49,576 for "despojar". 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 "despojar" and "despojo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "despojar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despojo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,647 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despojar" and "despojo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despojar vs despojos". 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 #11,647 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