debamosvsdebemosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,789
“debamos” frequency rank
#963
“debemos” frequency rank
27752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature debamos debemos
Definition Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del presente de subjuntivo de deber. Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del presente de indicativo de deber.

Where the eye mixes debamos and debemos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. debamos and debemos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
debamos
7 ch
debemos

Why the eye confuses debamos with debemos

A purely visual mix-up. debamos ([d̪eˈβ̞amos]) and debemos ([d̪eˈβ̞emos]) 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 a single letter - a in “debamos” becomes e in “debemos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27752, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

debamos is recorded at frequency rank #26,789, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞amos]. debemos is at rank #963, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞emos].

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 27752, this pair ranks #225,315 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of debamos vs debemos

Shared letters: bdemos. Private to "debamos": a. Private to "debemos": -.

"debamos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "debemos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • debamos ← dbeamos · ddebamos · deabmos · debammos · debamoss · debamso · debaoms · debbamos
  • debemos ← dbeemos · ddebemos · debbemos · debemmos · debemoss · debemso · debeoms · debmeos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "debamos" and "debemos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈβ̞amos] versus [d̪eˈβ̞emos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "debamos" vs "debemos" - which ranks higher?
"debemos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #963 in our Spanish list, against #26,789 for "debamos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "debamos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "debemos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #225,315 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "debamos" and "debemos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "debamos 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 #225,315 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