Which to use
“debió” and “decía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,706
- “debió” frequency rank
- #1,136
- “decía” frequency rank
- 3842
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debió | decía |
|---|---|---|
| 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 pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de decir. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set debió and decía apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. debió ([d̪eˈβ̞jo]) and decía ([d̪eˈsia]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3842, 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]. decía is at rank #1,136, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈsia].
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 3842, this pair ranks #317,434 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debió vs decía
Shared letters: de. Private to "debió": bió. Private to "decía": ací.
"debió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "decía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV