Which to use
“dábamos” and “debimos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,541
- “dábamos” frequency rank
- #37,013
- “debimos” frequency rank
- 73554
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dábamos | debimos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de dar. | Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de deber. |
Where the eye mixes dábamos and debimos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dábamos vs debimos
A purely visual mix-up. dábamos ([ˈd̪aβ̞amos]) and debimos ([d̪eˈβ̞imos]) 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 73554, 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]. debimos is at rank #37,013, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞imos].
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 73554, this pair ranks #23,065 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dábamos vs debimos
Shared letters: bdmos. Private to "dábamos": aá. Private to "debimos": ei.
"dábamos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "debimos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- debimos ← dbeimos · ddebimos · debbimos · debimmos · debimoss · debimso · debioms · debmios
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dábamos" for "debimos" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dábamos" or "debimos"?
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 "dábamos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "debimos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,065 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dábamos" and "debimos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dábamos vs dudamos". 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 #23,065 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.