recibevsrecibióConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,914
“recibe” frequency rank
#1,559
“recibió” frequency rank
3473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recibe recibió
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recibir o de recibirse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de recibir o de recibirse.

Where the eye mixes recibe and recibió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recibe runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against recibió's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
recibe
7 ch
recibió

Why the eye confuses recibe with recibió

A purely visual mix-up. recibe ([reˈsiβ̞e]) and recibió ([resiˈβ̞jo]) 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 3473, 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]. recibió is at rank #1,559, tagged as averb, pronounced [resiˈβ̞jo].

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 3473, this pair ranks #318,233 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recibe vs recibió

Shared letters: bceir. Private to "recibe": -. Private to "recibió": ó.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recibe ← ercibe · rceibe · recbie · reccibe · recibbe · recieb · recive · reicbe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recibe" and "recibió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([reˈsiβ̞e] versus [resiˈβ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recibe" vs "recibió" - which ranks higher?
"recibió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,559 in our Spanish list, against #1,914 for "recibe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recibe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recibió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,233 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recibe" and "recibió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recibe vs recubre". 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 #318,233 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