Which to use
“debemos” is a verb and “debidos” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #963
- “debemos” frequency rank
- #29,581
- “debidos” frequency rank
- 30544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debemos | debidos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del presente de indicativo de deber. | Forma del plural de debido, participio de deber. |
Where the eye mixes debemos and debidos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. debemos and debidos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses debemos with debidos
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: debemos is [d̪eˈβ̞emos] while debidos is [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
debemos is recorded at frequency rank #963, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞emos]. debidos is at rank #29,581, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞os].
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 30544, this pair ranks #211,484 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of debemos vs debidos
Shared letters: bdeos. Private to "debemos": m. Private to "debidos": i.
"debemos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "debidos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "debemos" and "debidos" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "debemos" vs "debidos" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "debemos" and "debidos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "debemos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "debidos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #211,484 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "debemos" and "debidos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "debías vs debidos". 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 #211,484 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.