duendevsdueñosConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,671
“duende” frequency rank
#3,838
“dueños” frequency rank
21509
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duende dueños
Definition Pequeña criatura mitológica de pequeño tamaño. Forma del plural de dueño.

Where the eye mixes duende and dueños

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

6 ch
duende
6 ch
dueños

Look-alike desk: duende vs dueños

A purely visual mix-up. duende ([ˈd̪wẽn̪d̪e]) and dueños ([ˈd̪weɲos]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21509, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duende is recorded at frequency rank #17,671, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪wẽn̪d̪e]. dueños is at rank #3,838, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪weɲos].

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 21509, this pair ranks #254,611 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of duende vs dueños

Shared letters: deu. Private to "duende": n. Private to "dueños": osñ.

"duende" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "dueños" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duendedduende · deunde · duedne · duendde · duened · duennde · dunede · udende

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "duende" for "dueños" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪wẽn̪d̪e] versus [ˈd̪weɲos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "duende" or "dueños"?
"dueños" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,838 in our Spanish list, against #17,671 for "duende". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "duende" and "dueños" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "duende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dueños" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,611 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duende" and "dueños" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dense vs duende". 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 #254,611 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