debidosvsdecidasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: debidos is a participle, decidas is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“debidos” is a participle and “decidas” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,581
“debidos” frequency rank
#21,965
“decidas” frequency rank
51546
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature debidos decidas
Definition Forma del plural de debido, participio de deber. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de decidir o de decidirse.

Where the eye mixes debidos and decidas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
debidos
7 ch
decidas

Look-alike desk: debidos vs decidas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: debidos is [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞os] while decidas is [d̪eˈsið̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

debidos is recorded at frequency rank #29,581, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞ið̞os]. decidas is at rank #21,965, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈsið̞as].

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 51546, this pair ranks #97,333 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of debidos vs decidas

Shared letters: deis. Private to "debidos": bo. Private to "decidas": ac.

"debidos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "decidas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • debidosdbeidos · ddebidos · debbidos · debdios · debiddos · debidoss · debidso · debiods
  • decidasdceidas · ddecidas · deccidas · decdias · deciads · decidass · deciddas · decidsa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "debidos" and "decidas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "debidos" is a participle and "decidas" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "debidos" or "decidas"?
"decidas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,965 in our Spanish list, against #29,581 for "debidos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "debidos" and "decidas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "debidos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "decidas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,333 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "debidos" and "decidas" 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 #97,333 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list