duermanvsduermeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,004
“duerman” frequency rank
#5,824
“duerme” frequency rank
40828
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duerman duerme
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de dormir o de dormirse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de dormir o de dormirse.

Where the eye mixes duerman and duerme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. duerman runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against duerme's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
duerman
6 ch
duerme

Look-alike desk: duerman vs duerme

A purely visual mix-up. duerman ([ˈd̪weɾmãn]) and duerme ([ˈd̪weɾme]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duerman is recorded at frequency rank #35,004, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪weɾmãn]. duerme is at rank #5,824, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪weɾme].

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 40828, this pair ranks #156,975 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of duerman vs duerme

Shared letters: demru. Private to "duerman": an. Private to "duerme": -.

"duerman" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "duerme" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duerman ← dduerman · deurman · duemran · dueramn · duermann · duermman · duermna · duerrman
  • duerme ← dduerme · deurme · duemre · duerem · duermme · duerrme · dureme · uderme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "duerman" for "duerme" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪weɾmãn] versus [ˈd̪weɾme]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "duerman" or "duerme"?
"duerme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,824 in our Spanish list, against #35,004 for "duerman". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "duerman" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duerme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #156,975 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duerman" and "duerme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duerman vs Durban". 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 #156,975 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