recibesvsrecibióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,700
“recibes” frequency rank
#1,559
“recibió” frequency rank
17259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recibes recibió
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) 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 recibes and recibió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recibes (CVCVCVC) and recibió (CVCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
recibes
7 ch
recibió

Look-alike desk: recibes vs recibió

A purely visual mix-up. recibes ([reˈsiβ̞es]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recibes is recorded at frequency rank #15,700, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈsiβ̞es]. 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 17259, this pair ranks #272,906 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recibes vs recibió

Shared letters: bceir. Private to "recibes": s. Private to "recibió": ó.

"recibes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "recibió" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recibes ← ercibes · rceibes · recbies · reccibes · recibbes · recibess · recibse · reciebs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recibes" and "recibió" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([reˈsiβ̞es] versus [resiˈβ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recibes" or "recibió"?
"recibió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,559 in our Spanish list, against #15,700 for "recibes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "recibes" 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 #272,906 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recibes" and "recibió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recibes vs repites". 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 #272,906 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