despreciavsdespreciadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,026
“desprecia” frequency rank
#40,765
“despreciado” frequency rank
63791
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desprecia despreciado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de despreciar. Participio de despreciar.

Where the eye mixes desprecia and despreciado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. desprecia runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVV) against despreciado's 11 (CVCCCVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
desprecia
11 ch
despreciado

Visual trap between desprecia and despreciado

A purely visual mix-up. desprecia ([d̪esˈpɾesja]) and despreciado ([d̪espɾeˈsjað̞o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “desprecia” sits inside “despreciado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desprecia is recorded at frequency rank #23,026, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpɾesja]. despreciado is at rank #40,765, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪espɾeˈsjað̞o].

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 63791, this pair ranks #47,605 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of desprecia vs despreciado

Shared letters: acdeiprs. Private to "desprecia": -. Private to "despreciado": o.

"desprecia" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVV  ·  "despreciado" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desprecia ← ddesprecia · depsrecia · despercia · despprecia · desprceia · desprecai · despreccia · despreica
  • despreciado ← ddespreciado · depsreciado · desperciado · desppreciado · desprceiado · desprecaido · desprecciado · despreciaddo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "desprecia" and "despreciado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esˈpɾesja] versus [d̪espɾeˈsjað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "desprecia" vs "despreciado" - which ranks higher?
"desprecia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,026 in our Spanish list, against #40,765 for "despreciado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "desprecia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despreciado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,605 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desprecia" and "despreciado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despreciado vs desprecian". 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 #47,605 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