recibíavsrecibirWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,848
“recibía” frequency rank
#1,272
“recibir” frequency rank
13120
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recibía recibir
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de recibir o de recibirse. Tomar alguien algo que se le da o se le envía.

Where the eye mixes recibía and recibir

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

7 ch
recibía
7 ch
recibir

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. recibía ([resiˈβ̞ia]) and recibir ([resiˈβ̞iɾ]) 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 13120, 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]. recibir is at rank #1,272, tagged as averb, pronounced [resiˈβ̞iɾ].

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 13120, this pair ranks #289,061 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recibía vs recibir

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

"recibía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "recibir" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recibirercibir · rceibir · recbiir · reccibir · recibbir · recibirr · recibri · reciibr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recibía" and "recibir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([resiˈβ̞ia] versus [resiˈβ̞iɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recibía" or "recibir"?
"recibir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,272 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