Which to use
“bebía” and “bebió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,097
- “bebía” frequency rank
- #29,511
- “bebió” frequency rank
- 61608
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bebía | bebió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de beber o de beberse. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de beber o de beberse. |
Where the eye mixes bebía and bebió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bebía and bebió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: bebía vs bebió
A purely visual mix-up. bebía ([beˈβ̞ia]) and bebió ([beˈβ̞jo]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bebía is recorded at frequency rank #32,097, classified as averb, pronounced [beˈβ̞ia]. bebió is at rank #29,511, tagged as averb, pronounced [beˈβ̞jo].
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 61608, this pair ranks #54,867 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bebía vs bebió
Shared letters: be. Private to "bebía": aí. Private to "bebió": ió.
"bebía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "bebió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bebía" and "bebió" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "bebía" or "bebió" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "bebía" and "bebió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bebía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bebió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,867 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bebía" and "bebió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bebí vs bebía". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #54,867 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.