Which to use
“debía” and “debo” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,978
- “debía” frequency rank
- #1,845
- “debo” frequency rank
- 3823
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debía | debo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de deber. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de deber. |
Where the eye mixes debía and debo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. debía runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against debo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: debía vs debo
A purely visual mix-up. debía ([d̪eˈβ̞ia]) and debo ([ˈd̪eβ̞o]) 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 3823, 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]. debo is at rank #1,845, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞o].
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 3823, this pair ranks #317,480 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debía vs debo
Shared letters: bde. Private to "debía": aí. Private to "debo": o.
"debía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "debo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- debo ← dbeo · ddebo · debbo · deob · devo · edbo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "debía" for "debo" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "debía" or "debo" show up more?
What to do next
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 "debo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,480 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "debía" and "debo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "debía 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 #317,480 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.