dábamosvsdabasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,541
“dábamos” frequency rank
#34,042
“dabas” frequency rank
70583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dábamos dabas
Definition Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de dar. Segunda persona del singular (tú, vos) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de dar.

Where the eye mixes dábamos and dabas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dábamos runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against dabas's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
dábamos
5 ch
dabas

Visual trap between dábamos and dabas

A purely visual mix-up. dábamos ([ˈd̪aβ̞amos]) and dabas ([ˈd̪aβ̞as]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dábamos is recorded at frequency rank #36,541, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪aβ̞amos]. dabas is at rank #34,042, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪aβ̞as].

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 70583, this pair ranks #29,358 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dábamos vs dabas

Shared letters: abds. Private to "dábamos": moá. Private to "dabas": -.

"dábamos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "dabas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dabas ← adbas · daabs · dabass · dabbas · dabsa · davas · dbaas · ddabas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dábamos" for "dabas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪aβ̞amos] versus [ˈd̪aβ̞as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dábamos" or "dabas"?
"dabas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,042 in our Spanish list, against #36,541 for "dábamos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dábamos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dabas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,358 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dábamos" and "dabas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dabas vs dimas". 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 #29,358 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