devuelvevsdevuelvoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,127
“devuelve” frequency rank
#24,115
“devuelvo” frequency rank
34242
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devuelve devuelvo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de devolver. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de devolver.

Where the eye mixes devuelve and devuelvo

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

8 ch
devuelve
8 ch
devuelvo

Visual trap between devuelve and devuelvo

A purely visual mix-up. devuelve ([d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞e]) and devuelvo ([d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞o]) 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 a single letter - e in “devuelve” becomes o in “devuelvo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34242, 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]. devuelvo is at rank #24,115, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞o].

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 34242, this pair ranks #192,497 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of devuelve vs devuelvo

Shared letters: deluv. Private to "devuelve": -. Private to "devuelvo": o.

"devuelve" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "devuelvo" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devuelveddevuelve · debuelbe · deuvelve · deveulve · devuelev · devuellve · devuelvve · devuevle
  • devuelvoddevuelvo · debuelbo · deuvelvo · deveulvo · devuellvo · devuelov · devuelvvo · devuevlo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "devuelve" for "devuelvo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞e] versus [d̪eˈβ̞welβ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "devuelve" or "devuelvo"?
"devuelve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,127 in our Spanish list, against #24,115 for "devuelvo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "devuelve" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devuelvo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #192,497 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devuelve" and "devuelvo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devueltos 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 #192,497 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