dicenvsdickWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: dicen is a verb, dick is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dicen” is a verb and “dick” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#415
“dicen” frequency rank
#12,364
“dick” frequency rank
12779
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dicen dick
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de decir. Grueso, voluminoso, corpulento, abultado.

Where the eye mixes dicen and dick

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
dicen
4 ch
dick

Look-alike desk: dicen vs dick

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dicen is [ˈd̪isẽn] while dick is [dɪk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dicen is recorded at frequency rank #415, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪isẽn]. dick is at rank #12,364, tagged as anadj, pronounced [dɪk].

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 12779, this pair ranks #290,305 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dicen vs dick

Shared letters: cdi. Private to "dicen": en. Private to "dick": k.

"dicen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dicendcien · ddicen · diccen · dicenn · dicne · diecn · disen · idcen
  • dickdcik · ddick · dicck · dickk · dikc · idck

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dicen" for "dick" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dicen" is a verb and "dick" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dicen" or "dick"?
"dicen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #415 in our Spanish list, against #12,364 for "dick". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dicen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dick" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #290,305 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dicen" and "dick" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dick vs divo". 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 #290,305 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