Which to use
“deban” and “debía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,332
- “deban” frequency rank
- #1,978
- “debía” frequency rank
- 16310
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deban | debía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de deber. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de deber. |
Where the eye mixes deban and debía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: deban vs debía
A purely visual mix-up. deban ([ˈd̪eβ̞ãn]) and debía ([d̪eˈβ̞ia]) 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 16310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deban is recorded at frequency rank #14,332, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞ãn]. debía is at rank #1,978, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞ia].
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 16310, this pair ranks #276,700 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of deban vs debía
Shared letters: abde. Private to "deban": n. Private to "debía": í.
"deban" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "debía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- deban ← dbean · ddeban · deabn · debann · debban · debna · devan · edban
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "deban" and "debía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "deban" or "debía"?
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 "deban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "debía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #276,700 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deban" and "debía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deban vs Deva". 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 #276,700 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.