dicesvsdireTell them apart

Quick tell: dices is a verb, dire is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dices” is a verb and “dire” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,282
“dices” frequency rank
#17,412
“dire” frequency rank
18694
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dices dire
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de decir. Director.

Where the eye mixes dices and dire

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

5 ch
dices
4 ch
dire

Visual trap between dices and dire

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dices is [ˈd̪ises] while dire is [ˈd̪iɾe]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dices is recorded at frequency rank #1,282, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ises]. dire is at rank #17,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪iɾe].

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 18694, this pair ranks #266,858 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dices vs dire

Shared letters: dei. Private to "dices": cs. Private to "dire": r.

"dices" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dicesdcies · ddices · dicces · dicess · dicse · diecs · dises · idces
  • direddire · dier · dirre · drie · idre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dices" for "dire" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dices" is a verb and "dire" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dices" vs "dire" - which ranks higher?
"dices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,282 in our Spanish list, against #17,412 for "dire". 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 "dices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,858 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dices" and "dire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dire 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 #266,858 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