subesvssubióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,257
“subes” frequency rank
#4,465
“subió” frequency rank
23722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature subes subió
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de subir o de subirse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de subir o de subirse.

Where the eye mixes subes and subió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
subes
5 ch
subió

Visual trap between subes and subió

A purely visual mix-up. subes ([ˈsuβ̞es]) and subió ([suˈβ̞jo]) 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 23722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

subes is recorded at frequency rank #19,257, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsuβ̞es]. subió is at rank #4,465, tagged as averb, pronounced [suˈβ̞jo].

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 23722, this pair ranks #244,451 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of subes vs subió

Shared letters: bsu. Private to "subes": e. Private to "subió": .

"subes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "subió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • subessbues · ssubes · subbes · subess · subse · suebs · suves · usbes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "subes" for "subió" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsuβ̞es] versus [suˈβ̞jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "subes" or "subió" show up more?
"subió" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,465 in our Spanish list, against #19,257 for "subes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "subes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "subió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #244,451 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "subes" and "subió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "subes vs subís". 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 #244,451 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