Which to use
“recibía” and “recibido” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,848
- “recibía” frequency rank
- #1,654
- “recibido” frequency rank
- 13502
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recibía | recibido |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de recibir o de recibirse. | Participio de recibir. |
Where the eye mixes recibía and recibido
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recibía runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against recibido's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: recibía vs recibido
A purely visual mix-up. recibía ([resiˈβ̞ia]) and recibido ([resiˈβ̞ið̞o]) 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 13502, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recibía is recorded at frequency rank #11,848, classified as averb, pronounced [resiˈβ̞ia]. recibido is at rank #1,654, tagged as averb, pronounced [resiˈβ̞ið̞o].
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 13502, this pair ranks #287,640 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of recibía vs recibido
Shared letters: bceir. Private to "recibía": aí. Private to "recibido": do.
"recibía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "recibido" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- recibido ← ercibido · rceibido · recbiido · reccibido · recibbido · recibdio · recibiddo · recibiod
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "recibía" for "recibido" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "recibía" or "recibido" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "recibía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recibido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #287,640 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recibía" and "recibido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recibía vs recicla". 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 #287,640 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.