Which to use
“prohíbe” and “prohibía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,199
- “prohíbe” frequency rank
- #26,191
- “prohibía” frequency rank
- 36390
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prohíbe | prohibía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de prohibir. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de prohibir. |
Where the eye mixes prohíbe and prohibía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. prohíbe runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against prohibía's 8 (CCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses prohíbe with prohibía
A purely visual mix-up. prohíbe ([pɾoˈiβ̞e]) and prohibía ([pɾojˈβ̞ia]) 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 36390, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prohíbe is recorded at frequency rank #10,199, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾoˈiβ̞e]. prohibía is at rank #26,191, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾojˈβ̞ia].
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 36390, this pair ranks #180,866 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of prohíbe vs prohibía
Shared letters: bhoprí. Private to "prohíbe": e. Private to "prohibía": ai.
"prohíbe" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "prohibía" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "prohíbe" for "prohibía" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "prohíbe" or "prohibía" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "prohíbe" and "prohibía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "prohíbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prohibía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,866 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prohíbe" and "prohibía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prohíba vs prohibía". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #180,866 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.