Which to use
“debido” and “debió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #479
- “debido” frequency rank
- #2,706
- “debió” frequency rank
- 3185
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debido | debió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participio 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 debido and debió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses debido with debió
A purely visual mix-up. debido ([d̪eˈβ̞ið̞o]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
debido is recorded at frequency rank #479, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞o]. 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 3185, this pair ranks #318,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debido vs debió
Shared letters: bdei. Private to "debido": o. Private to "debió": ó.
"debido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "debió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- debido ← dbeido · ddebido · debbido · debdio · debiddo · debiod · deibdo · devido
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "debido" and "debió" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "debido" or "debió" show up more?
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 "debido" 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 #318,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "debido" and "debió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "debió vs deli". 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 #318,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.