debióvsdeisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,706
“debió” frequency rank
#31,304
“deis” frequency rank
34010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature debió deis
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de deber. Segunda persona del plural (vosotros, vosotras) del presente de subjuntivo de dar o de darse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set debió and deis apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
debió
4 ch
deis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. debió ([d̪eˈβ̞jo]) and deis ([ˈd̪ejs]) 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 34010, 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]. deis is at rank #31,304, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ejs].

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 34010, this pair ranks #193,695 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of debió vs deis

Shared letters: dei. Private to "debió": . Private to "deis": s.

"debió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "deis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deisddeis · deiss · desi · edis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "debió" and "deis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈβ̞jo] versus [ˈd̪ejs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "debió" or "deis"?
"debió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,706 in our Spanish list, against #31,304 for "deis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list