duermevsduermesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,824
“duerme” frequency rank
#16,565
“duermes” frequency rank
22389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duerme duermes
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de dormir o de dormirse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de dormir o de dormirse.

Where the eye mixes duerme and duermes

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

6 ch
duerme
7 ch
duermes

Why the eye confuses duerme with duermes

A purely visual mix-up. duerme ([ˈd̪weɾme]) and duermes ([ˈd̪weɾmes]) 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 extra letter(s) - “duerme” sits inside “duermes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duerme is recorded at frequency rank #5,824, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪weɾme]. duermes is at rank #16,565, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪weɾmes].

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 22389, this pair ranks #250,567 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of duerme vs duermes

Shared letters: demru. Private to "duerme": -. Private to "duermes": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duerme ← dduerme · deurme · duemre · duerem · duermme · duerrme · dureme · uderme
  • duermes ← dduermes · deurmes · duemres · duerems · duermess · duermmes · duermse · duerrmes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "duerme" and "duermes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪weɾme] versus [ˈd̪weɾmes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "duerme" or "duermes" show up more?
"duerme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,824 in our Spanish list, against #16,565 for "duermes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "duerme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duermes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #250,567 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duerme" and "duermes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duerman vs duermes". 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 #250,567 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