Which to use
“prohibía” is a verb and “prohibido” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,191
- “prohibía” frequency rank
- #3,353
- “prohibido” frequency rank
- 29544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prohibía | prohibido |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de prohibir. | Que por ley, autoridad o estatuto no está consentido y es ilegítimo. Que no se permite. |
Where the eye mixes prohibía and prohibido
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. prohibía runs 8 letters (CCVCVCVV) against prohibido's 9 (CCVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between prohibía and prohibido
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prohibía is [pɾojˈβ̞ia] while prohibido is [pɾojˈβ̞ið̞o]. 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 29544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prohibía is recorded at frequency rank #26,191, classified as averb, pronounced [pɾojˈβ̞ia]. prohibido is at rank #3,353, tagged as anadj, pronounced [pɾojˈβ̞ið̞o].
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 29544, this pair ranks #216,475 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of prohibía vs prohibido
Shared letters: bhiopr. Private to "prohibía": aí. Private to "prohibido": d.
"prohibía" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV · "prohibido" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- prohibido ← porhibido · pprohibido · prhoibido · prohbiido · prohhibido · prohibbido · prohibdio · prohibiddo
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "prohibía" and "prohibido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "prohibía" or "prohibido"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "prohibía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prohibido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #216,475 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prohibía" and "prohibido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prohíba vs prohibía". 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 #216,475 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.