Which to use
“debía” and “debió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,978
- “debía” frequency rank
- #2,706
- “debió” frequency rank
- 4684
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debía | debió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto 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 debía and debió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. debía and debió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: debía vs debió
A purely visual mix-up. debía ([d̪eˈβ̞ia]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4684, 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]. 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 4684, this pair ranks #315,498 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debía vs debió
Shared letters: bde. Private to "debía": aí. Private to "debió": ió.
"debía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "debió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "debía" for "debió" ever safe?
Frequency check: "debía" vs "debió" - which ranks higher?
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 "debió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,498 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "debía" and "debió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "debió vs deli". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #315,498 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.