desprendevsdesprendióWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,671
“desprende” frequency rank
#48,352
“desprendió” frequency rank
62023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desprende desprendió
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de desprender o de desprenderse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de desprender o de desprenderse.

Where the eye mixes desprende and desprendió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. desprende runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCCV) against desprendió's 10 (CVCCCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
desprende
10 ch
desprendió

Why the eye confuses desprende with desprendió

A purely visual mix-up. desprende ([d̪esˈpɾẽn̪d̪e]) and desprendió ([d̪espɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desprende is recorded at frequency rank #13,671, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈpɾẽn̪d̪e]. desprendió is at rank #48,352, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪espɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo].

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 62023, this pair ranks #53,442 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of desprende vs desprendió

Shared letters: denprs. Private to "desprende": -. Private to "desprendió": ió.

"desprende" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCV  ·  "desprendió" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desprende ← ddesprende · depsrende · despernde · despprende · despredne · desprendde · desprened · desprennde

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "desprende" and "desprendió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esˈpɾẽn̪d̪e] versus [d̪espɾẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "desprende" or "desprendió"?
"desprende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,671 in our Spanish list, against #48,352 for "desprendió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "desprende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desprendió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,442 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desprende" and "desprendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desprenden vs desprendió". 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 #53,442 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