débitovsderivóWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: débito is a noun, derivó is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“débito” is a noun and “derivó” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,707
“débito” frequency rank
#23,747
“derivó” frequency rank
43454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débito derivó
Definition Obligación de pagar o devolver algo, generalmente dinero, que se había recibido antes. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de derivar.

Where the eye mixes débito and derivó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. débito and derivó follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
débito
6 ch
derivó

Visual trap between débito and derivó

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débito is [ˈd̪eβ̞it̪o] while derivó is [d̪eɾiˈβ̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débito is recorded at frequency rank #19,707, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪eβ̞it̪o]. derivó is at rank #23,747, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eɾiˈβ̞o].

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 43454, this pair ranks #142,550 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débito vs derivó

Shared letters: di. Private to "débito": boté. Private to "derivó": ervó.

"débito" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "derivó" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "débito" for "derivó" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débito" is a noun and "derivó" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "débito" or "derivó" show up more?
"débito" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,707 in our Spanish list, against #23,747 for "derivó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "débito" and "derivó" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débito" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "derivó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,550 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débito" and "derivó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derivó vs divo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #142,550 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list