Which to use
“habido” is a verb and “hábil” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,565
- “habido” frequency rank
- #11,594
- “hábil” frequency rank
- 14159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | habido | hábil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participio de haber. | Que puede hacer muy bien algo. |
Where the eye mixes habido and hábil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. habido runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against hábil's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses habido with hábil
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: habido is [aˈβ̞ið̞o] while hábil is [ˈaβ̞il]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
habido is recorded at frequency rank #2,565, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈβ̞ið̞o]. hábil is at rank #11,594, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaβ̞il].
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 14159, this pair ranks #285,192 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of habido vs hábil
Shared letters: bhi. Private to "habido": ado. Private to "hábil": lá.
"habido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "hábil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- habido ← ahbido · habbido · habdio · habiddo · habiod · haibdo · havido · hbaido
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "habido" and "hábil" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "habido" or "hábil"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "habido" and "hábil" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "habido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hábil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #285,192 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "habido" and "hábil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "habido vs hebdo". 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 #285,192 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.