Which to use
“debido” is a verb and “debidos” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #479
- “debido” frequency rank
- #29,581
- “debidos” frequency rank
- 30060
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debido | debidos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participio de deber. | Forma del plural de debido, participio de deber. |
Where the eye mixes debido and debidos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. debido runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against debidos's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: debido vs debidos
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: debido is [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞o] while debidos is [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “debido” sits inside “debidos”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
debido is recorded at frequency rank #479, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞o]. 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 30060, this pair ranks #213,860 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of debido vs debidos
Shared letters: bdeio. Private to "debido": -. Private to "debidos": s.
"debido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "debidos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "debido" for "debidos" ever safe?
Frequency check: "debido" vs "debidos" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "debido" and "debidos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "debido" 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 #213,860 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "debido" 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 #213,860 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.