decidíavsdividíaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,043
“decidía” frequency rank
#42,962
“dividía” frequency rank
77005
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decidía dividía
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de decidir o de decidirse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de dividir o de dividirse.

Where the eye mixes decidía and dividía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. decidía and dividía follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
decidía
7 ch
dividía

Visual trap between decidía and dividía

A purely visual mix-up. decidía ([d̪esiˈð̞ia]) and dividía ([d̪iβ̞iˈð̞ia]) 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 77005, 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]. dividía is at rank #42,962, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪iβ̞iˈð̞ia].

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 77005, this pair ranks #16,752 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of decidía vs dividía

Shared letters: adií. Private to "decidía": ce. Private to "dividía": v.

"decidía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "dividía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "decidía" for "dividía" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esiˈð̞ia] versus [d̪iβ̞iˈð̞ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "decidía" or "dividía"?
"decidía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,043 in our Spanish list, against #42,962 for "dividía". 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 "decidía" and "dividía" 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 "dividía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,752 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decidía" and "dividía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decidía vs decididas". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #16,752 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