discutevsdisputóWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,803
“discute” frequency rank
#24,836
“disputó” frequency rank
34639
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature discute disputó
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de discutir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de disputar.

Where the eye mixes discute and disputó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. discute and disputó follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
discute
7 ch
disputó

Why the eye confuses discute with disputó

A purely visual mix-up. discute ([d̪isˈkut̪e]) and disputó ([d̪ispuˈt̪o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34639, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

discute is recorded at frequency rank #9,803, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪isˈkut̪e]. disputó is at rank #24,836, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪ispuˈt̪o].

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 34639, this pair ranks #190,366 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of discute vs disputó

Shared letters: distu. Private to "discute": ce. Private to "disputó": pó.

"discute" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "disputó" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • discute ← ddiscute · dicsute · disccute · disctue · discuet · discutte · disscute · disucte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "discute" for "disputó" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪isˈkut̪e] versus [d̪ispuˈt̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "discute" vs "disputó" - which ranks higher?
"discute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,803 in our Spanish list, against #24,836 for "disputó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "discute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "disputó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #190,366 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "discute" and "disputó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "discuto vs disputó". 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 #190,366 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