debióvsdejóWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,706
“debió” frequency rank
#985
“dejó” frequency rank
3691
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature debió dejó
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de deber. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de dejar.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
debió
4 ch
dejó

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. debió ([d̪eˈβ̞jo]) and dejó ([d̪eˈxo]) 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 3691, 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]. dejó is at rank #985, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈxo].

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 3691, this pair ranks #317,770 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of debió vs dejó

Shared letters: deó. Private to "debió": bi. Private to "dejó": j.

"debió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "dejó" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "debió" and "dejó" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈβ̞jo] versus [d̪eˈxo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "debió" or "dejó"?
"dejó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #985 in our Spanish list, against #2,706 for "debió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list