debimosvsdejamosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“debimos” and “dejamos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,013
“debimos” frequency rank
#3,314
“dejamos” frequency rank
40327
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature debimos dejamos
Definition Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de deber. Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del presente de indicativo de dejar o de dejarse.

Where the eye mixes debimos and dejamos

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

7 ch
debimos
7 ch
dejamos

Look-alike desk: debimos vs dejamos

A purely visual mix-up. debimos ([d̪eˈβ̞imos]) and dejamos ([d̪eˈxamos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40327, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

debimos is recorded at frequency rank #37,013, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞imos]. dejamos is at rank #3,314, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈxamos].

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 40327, this pair ranks #159,725 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of debimos vs dejamos

Shared letters: demos. Private to "debimos": bi. Private to "dejamos": aj.

"debimos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "dejamos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • debimosdbeimos · ddebimos · debbimos · debimmos · debimoss · debimso · debioms · debmios
  • dejamosddejamos · deajmos · dejammos · dejamoss · dejamso · dejaoms · dejjamos · dejmaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "debimos" and "dejamos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈβ̞imos] versus [d̪eˈxamos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "debimos" or "dejamos" show up more?
"dejamos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,314 in our Spanish list, against #37,013 for "debimos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "debimos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dejamos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,725 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "debimos" and "dejamos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "debías vs debimos". 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 #159,725 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