debía

/[d̪eˈβ̞ia]/ verb

The verdict

“debía” is a regularly-used Spanish word, ranked #1,978 in Spanish word frequency and used as a verb.

#1,978
frequency rank, Spanish
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

Dominant Wiktionary sense: Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de deber.

Key facts for debía
PropertyValue
Headworddebía
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechVerb
IPA[d̪eˈβ̞ia]
Letters5
Frequency rank#1,978
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “debía” sits in Spanish frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). debía lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Spanish entry for debía is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [d̪eˈβ̞ia]. Corpus data places it at rank #1,978 in overall Spanish word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for debía, with forms such as "dbeía", "ddebía", and "debaí". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "día", "deja", "debo", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct Spanish form is debía, spelled D-E-B-Í-A, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de deber.
  2. 2
    Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de deber.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: dbeía,ddebía,debaí,debbía,devía,deíba,edbía

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of debía — measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

Edit distance from "debía"

dbeía2ddebía1debaí2debbía1devía1deíba2edbía2
Edit distance from "debía"

Frequency rank: #1,978 in Spanish

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "debía"?
"debía" is spelled D-E-B-Í-A. The IPA pronunciation is [d̪eˈβ̞ia].
What does "debía" mean?
As a verb, "debía" means: Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de deber.
What words are commonly confused with "debía"?
"debía" is commonly confused with "día", "deja", "debo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "debía"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "debía" is [d̪eˈβ̞ia]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "debía" come from?
"debía" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “debía”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Spanish spelling is D-E-B-Í-A — every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [d̪eˈβ̞ia] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “día” — see the side-by-side comparison. debía vs día
  • Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words

Nearby Spanish words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our Spanish index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.