Which to use
“debió” and “debo” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,706
- “debió” frequency rank
- #1,845
- “debo” frequency rank
- 4551
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debió | debo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de deber. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de deber. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set debió and debo apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. debió ([d̪eˈβ̞jo]) and debo ([ˈd̪eβ̞o]) 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 4551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
debió is recorded at frequency rank #2,706, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈβ̞jo]. debo is at rank #1,845, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞o].
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 4551, this pair ranks #315,826 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debió vs debo
Shared letters: bde. Private to "debió": ió. Private to "debo": o.
"debió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "debo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- debo ← dbeo · ddebo · debbo · deob · devo · edbo