debéisvsdebióConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,210
“debéis” frequency rank
#2,706
“debió” frequency rank
27916
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature debéis debió
Definition Segunda persona del plural (vosotros, vosotras) del presente de indicativo de deber. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de deber.

Where the eye mixes debéis and debió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
debéis
5 ch
debió

Visual trap between debéis and debió

A purely visual mix-up. debéis ([d̪eˈβ̞ejs]) and debió ([d̪eˈβ̞jo]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

debéis is recorded at frequency rank #25,210, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞ejs]. debió is at rank #2,706, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞jo].

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 27916, this pair ranks #224,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of debéis vs debió

Shared letters: bdei. Private to "debéis": . Private to "debió": ó.

"debéis" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "debió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "debéis" and "debió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈβ̞ejs] versus [d̪eˈβ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "debéis" vs "debió" - which ranks higher?
"debió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,706 in our Spanish list, against #25,210 for "debéis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "debéis" and "debió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "debéis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "debió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #224,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "debéis" and "debió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "debéis vs debías". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #224,544 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