decidíavsdecidiráWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34,043
“decidía” frequency rank
#17,099
“decidirá” frequency rank
51142
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decidía decidirá
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 futuro de indicativo de decidir o de decidirse.

Where the eye mixes decidía and decidirá

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. decidía runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against decidirá's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
decidía
8 ch
decidirá

Why the eye confuses decidía with decidirá

A purely visual mix-up. decidía ([d̪esiˈð̞ia]) and decidirá ([d̪esið̞iˈɾa]) 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 51142, 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]. decidirá is at rank #17,099, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esið̞iˈɾa].

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 51142, this pair ranks #99,461 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of decidía vs decidirá

Shared letters: cdei. Private to "decidía": aí. Private to "decidirá": rá.

"decidía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "decidirá" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "decidía" for "decidirá" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esiˈð̞ia] versus [d̪esið̞iˈɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "decidía" or "decidirá"?
"decidirá" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,099 in our Spanish list, against #34,043 for "decidía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "decidía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "decidirá" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,461 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decidía" and "decidirá" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decidía vs decididas". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #99,461 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