devuelvevsdevuelvenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,127
“devuelve” frequency rank
#20,335
“devuelven” frequency rank
30462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devuelve devuelven
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de devolver. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de devolver.

Where the eye mixes devuelve and devuelven

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
devuelve
9 ch
devuelven

Visual trap between devuelve and devuelven

A purely visual mix-up. devuelve ([d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞e]) and devuelven ([d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞ẽn]) 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) - “devuelve” sits inside “devuelven”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devuelve is recorded at frequency rank #10,127, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞e]. devuelven is at rank #20,335, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞ẽn].

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 30462, this pair ranks #211,856 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of devuelve vs devuelven

Shared letters: deluv. Private to "devuelve": -. Private to "devuelven": n.

"devuelve" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "devuelven" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devuelveddevuelve · debuelbe · deuvelve · deveulve · devuelev · devuellve · devuelvve · devuevle
  • devuelvenddevuelven · debuelben · deuvelven · deveulven · devuelevn · devuellven · devuelvenn · devuelvne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "devuelve" and "devuelven" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞e] versus [d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "devuelve" vs "devuelven" - which ranks higher?
"devuelve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,127 in our Spanish list, against #20,335 for "devuelven". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "devuelve" and "devuelven" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "devuelve" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devuelven" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #211,856 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devuelve" and "devuelven" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devuelven vs devuelvo". 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 #211,856 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