duelevsdueñoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,878
“duele” frequency rank
#2,112
“dueño” frequency rank
4990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duele dueño
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de dolar. Persona que posee o controla algo.

Where the eye mixes duele and dueño

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

5 ch
duele
5 ch
dueño

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: duele is [ˈd̪wele] while dueño is [ˈd̪weɲo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duele is recorded at frequency rank #2,878, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪wele]. dueño is at rank #2,112, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪weɲo].

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 4990, this pair ranks #314,754 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of duele vs dueño

Shared letters: deu. Private to "duele": l. Private to "dueño": .

"duele" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "dueño" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dueledduele · deule · dueel · duelle · dulee · udele

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "duele" and "dueño" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "duele" is a verb and "dueño" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "duele" or "dueño"?
"dueño" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,112 in our Spanish list, against #2,878 for "duele". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list