Which to use
“debió” and “dolió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,706
- “debió” frequency rank
- #16,079
- “dolió” frequency rank
- 18785
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | debió | dolió |
|---|---|---|
| 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 doler o de dolerse. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set debió and dolió 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 dolió ([d̪oˈljo]) 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 18785, 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]. dolió is at rank #16,079, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪oˈljo].
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 18785, this pair ranks #266,477 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of debió vs dolió
Shared letters: dió. Private to "debió": be. Private to "dolió": lo.
"debió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "dolió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV