bebívsbibiTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#46,362
“bebí” frequency rank
#42,300
“bibi” frequency rank
88662
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bebí bibi
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de beber o de beberse. Tía (paterna).

Where the eye mixes bebí and bibi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bebí and bibi follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
bebí
4 ch
bibi

Visual trap between bebí and bibi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bebí is [beˈβ̞i] while bibi is /biˈbi/. 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 88662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bebí is recorded at frequency rank #46,362, classified as averb, pronounced [beˈβ̞i]. bibi is at rank #42,300, tagged as anoun, pronounced /biˈbi/.

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 88662, this pair ranks #3,613 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bebí vs bibi

Shared letters: b. Private to "bebí": eí. Private to "bibi": i.

"bebí" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bibi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bibi ← bbibi · bbii · bibbi · biib · ibbi · vivi

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bebí" and "bibi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bebí" is a verb and "bibi" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bebí" vs "bibi" - which ranks higher?
"bibi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,300 in our Spanish list, against #46,362 for "bebí". 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 "bebí" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bibi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,613 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bebí" and "bibi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bebí vs ber". 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 #3,613 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