recibevsrecibíaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,914
“recibe” frequency rank
#11,848
“recibía” frequency rank
13762
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recibe recibía
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recibir o de recibirse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de recibir o de recibirse.

Where the eye mixes recibe and recibía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
recibe
7 ch
recibía

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. recibe ([reˈsiβ̞e]) and recibía ([resiˈβ̞ia]) 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 13762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recibe is recorded at frequency rank #1,914, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈsiβ̞e]. recibía is at rank #11,848, tagged as averb, pronounced [resiˈβ̞ia].

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 13762, this pair ranks #286,644 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recibe vs recibía

Shared letters: bceir. Private to "recibe": -. Private to "recibía": .

"recibe" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "recibía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recibeercibe · rceibe · recbie · reccibe · recibbe · recieb · recive · reicbe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recibe" and "recibía" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([reˈsiβ̞e] versus [resiˈβ̞ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recibe" or "recibía"?
"recibe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,914 in our Spanish list, against #11,848 for "recibía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list