Which to use
“decidía” and “decidió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,043
- “decidía” frequency rank
- #1,893
- “decidió” frequency rank
- 35936
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decidía | decidió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de decidir o de decidirse. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de decidir o de decidirse. |
Where the eye mixes decidía and decidió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. decidía and decidió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses decidía with decidió
A purely visual mix-up. decidía ([d̪esiˈð̞ia]) and decidió ([d̪esiˈð̞jo]) 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 35936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
decidía is recorded at frequency rank #34,043, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esiˈð̞ia]. decidió is at rank #1,893, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esiˈð̞jo].
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 35936, this pair ranks #183,383 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of decidía vs decidió
Shared letters: cdei. Private to "decidía": aí. Private to "decidió": ó.
"decidía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "decidió" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "decidía" and "decidió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "decidía" or "decidió" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "decidía" and "decidió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "decidía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "decidió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,383 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decidía" and "decidió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decidía vs decididas". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #183,383 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.