descubresvsdescubrióTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,025
“descubres” frequency rank
#4,503
“descubrió” frequency rank
34528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature descubres descubrió
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de descubrir o de descubrirse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de descubrir o de descubrirse.

Where the eye mixes descubres and descubrió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. descubres (CVCCVCCVC) and descubrió (CVCCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
descubres
9 ch
descubrió

Why the eye confuses descubres with descubrió

A purely visual mix-up. descubres ([d̪esˈkuβ̞ɾes]) and descubrió ([d̪eskuˈβ̞ɾjo]) 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 34528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

descubres is recorded at frequency rank #30,025, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈkuβ̞ɾes]. descubrió is at rank #4,503, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eskuˈβ̞ɾjo].

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 34528, this pair ranks #190,954 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of descubres vs descubrió

Shared letters: bcdersu. Private to "descubres": -. Private to "descubrió": ió.

"descubres" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "descubrió" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • descubres ← ddescubres · decsubres · descbures · desccubres · descubbres · descubers · descubress · descubrres

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "descubres" for "descubrió" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esˈkuβ̞ɾes] versus [d̪eskuˈβ̞ɾjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "descubres" vs "descubrió" - which ranks higher?
"descubrió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,503 in our Spanish list, against #30,025 for "descubres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "descubres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "descubrió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #190,954 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "descubres" and "descubrió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "descubras vs descubres". 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 #190,954 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