prohíbevsprohibióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,199
“prohíbe” frequency rank
#12,683
“prohibió” frequency rank
22882
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prohíbe prohibió
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de prohibir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de prohibir.

Where the eye mixes prohíbe and prohibió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. prohíbe runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against prohibió's 8 (CCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
prohíbe
8 ch
prohibió

Look-alike desk: prohíbe vs prohibió

A purely visual mix-up. prohíbe ([pɾoˈiβ̞e]) and prohibió ([pɾojˈβ̞jo]) 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 22882, 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]. prohibió is at rank #12,683, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾojˈβ̞jo].

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 22882, this pair ranks #248,328 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prohíbe vs prohibió

Shared letters: bhopr. Private to "prohíbe": eí. Private to "prohibió": ió.

"prohíbe" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "prohibió" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prohíbe" and "prohibió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([pɾoˈiβ̞e] versus [pɾojˈβ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "prohíbe" or "prohibió"?
"prohíbe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,199 in our Spanish list, against #12,683 for "prohibió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prohíbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prohibió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #248,328 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prohíbe" and "prohibió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "profile vs prohíbe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #248,328 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