Which to use
“recibía” and “recibió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,848
- “recibía” frequency rank
- #1,559
- “recibió” frequency rank
- 13407
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recibía | recibió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto 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 recibía and recibió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recibía and recibió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between recibía and recibió
A purely visual mix-up. recibía ([resiˈβ̞ia]) 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 13407, 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]. 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 13407, this pair ranks #287,981 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of recibía vs recibió
Shared letters: bceir. Private to "recibía": aí. Private to "recibió": ó.
"recibía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "recibió" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recibía" and "recibió" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "recibía" or "recibió"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recibía" 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 #287,981 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recibía" and "recibió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recibía vs recicla". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #287,981 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.