describióvsdescriboWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,008
“describió” frequency rank
#47,714
“describo” frequency rank
54722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature describió describo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de describir. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de describir.

Where the eye mixes describió and describo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. describió runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVV) against describo's 8 (CVCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
describió
8 ch
describo

Why the eye confuses describió with describo

A purely visual mix-up. describió ([d̪eskɾiˈβ̞jo]) and describo ([d̪esˈkɾiβ̞o]) 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 54722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

describió is recorded at frequency rank #7,008, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eskɾiˈβ̞jo]. describo is at rank #47,714, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈkɾiβ̞o].

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 54722, this pair ranks #82,051 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of describió vs describo

Shared letters: bcdeirs. Private to "describió": ó. Private to "describo": o.

"describió" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVV  ·  "describo" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • describo ← ddescribo · decsribo · desccribo · descirbo · descrbio · describbo · descriob · descrivo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "describió" and "describo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eskɾiˈβ̞jo] versus [d̪esˈkɾiβ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "describió" vs "describo" - which ranks higher?
"describió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,008 in our Spanish list, against #47,714 for "describo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "describió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "describo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #82,051 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "describió" and "describo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "describes vs describo". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #82,051 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