Which to use
“debida” is a participle and “décima” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,385
- “debida” frequency rank
- #11,562
- “décima” frequency rank
- 22947
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debida | décima |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del femenino de debido, participio de deber. | Cada parte de las diez en que se dividen ciertas medidas, como los grados en un termómetro, las micras, etc. |
Where the eye mixes debida and décima
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between debida and décima
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: debida is [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞a] while décima is [ˈd̪esima]. 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 (participle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
debida is recorded at frequency rank #11,385, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞a]. décima is at rank #11,562, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪esima].
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 22947, this pair ranks #248,031 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debida vs décima
Shared letters: adi. Private to "debida": be. Private to "décima": cmé.
"debida" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "décima" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- debida ← dbeida · ddebida · debbida · debdia · debiad · debidda · deibda · devida
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "debida" for "décima" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "debida" or "décima" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "debida" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décima" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #248,031 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "debida" and "décima" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "debida vs dolida". 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 #248,031 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.