Which to use
“debía” is a verb and “débil” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,978
- “debía” frequency rank
- #3,397
- “débil” frequency rank
- 5375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debía | débil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de deber. | De poca fortaleza, que carece de fuerza física. |
Where the eye mixes debía and débil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. debía (CVCVV) and débil (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses debía with débil
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: debía is [d̪eˈβ̞ia] while débil is [ˈd̪eβ̞il]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
debía is recorded at frequency rank #1,978, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞ia]. débil is at rank #3,397, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞il].
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 5375, this pair ranks #313,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debía vs débil
Shared letters: bd. Private to "debía": aeí. Private to "débil": ilé.
"debía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "débil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "debía" for "débil" ever safe?
Which is more common, "debía" or "débil"?
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 "debía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "débil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #313,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "debía" and "débil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débil vs deli". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #313,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.