devueltavsdevueltoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: devuelta is a participle, devuelto is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“devuelta” is a participle and “devuelto” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,796
“devuelta” frequency rank
#14,576
“devuelto” frequency rank
33372
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devuelta devuelto
Definition Forma del femenino de devuelto, participio irregular de devolver o de devolverse. Participio irregular de devolver o de devolverse.

Where the eye mixes devuelta and devuelto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
devuelta
8 ch
devuelto

Look-alike desk: devuelta vs devuelto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devuelta is [d̪eˈβ̞wel̪t̪a] while devuelto is [d̪eˈβ̞wel̪t̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “devuelta” becomes o in “devuelto”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devuelta is recorded at frequency rank #18,796, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞wel̪t̪a]. devuelto is at rank #14,576, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞wel̪t̪o].

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 33372, this pair ranks #197,138 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of devuelta vs devuelto

Shared letters: deltuv. Private to "devuelta": a. Private to "devuelto": o.

"devuelta" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "devuelto" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devueltaddevuelta · debuelta · deuvelta · deveulta · devuelat · devuellta · devueltta · devuetla
  • devueltoddevuelto · debuelto · deuvelto · deveulto · devuellto · devuelot · devueltto · devuetlo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "devuelta" and "devuelto" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devuelta" is a participle and "devuelto" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "devuelta" or "devuelto" show up more?
"devuelto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,576 in our Spanish list, against #18,796 for "devuelta". 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 "devuelta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devuelto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #197,138 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devuelta" and "devuelto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devuelta vs devueltas". 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 #197,138 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