pato

[ˈpat̪o]

/[ˈpat̪o]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“pato” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #7,894) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#7,894
frequency rank, Spanish
6,028
“P” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ave palmípeda del orden de las anseriformes, que se encuentra en estado silvestre y es domesticada para aprovechar sus huevos, plumas y carne.

Corpus desk

Index ES-pato · pato · Spanish

pato · rank #7,894 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,894
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,028
  • PHOTO-FINISH Palacios

Nearest frequency peer: Palacios (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vecinos de frecuencia del confusable “pato”

Pares de peso similar en el corpus, aparte de los confusables abajo

corpus weight

What this shows Las barras sitúan “pato” frente a los lemas españoles más cercanos por rango, no un reprint del escritorio de confusables.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pato vs po
50% similar
pato vs PT
0% similar
pato vs paz
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pato
PropertyValue
Headwordpato
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈpat̪o]
Letters4
Frequency rank#7,894
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rango de corpus junto a confusables de “pato”

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.patocae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

La escala es logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× más rara). En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “Palacios” (#7,893), “pedía” (#7,895), “oscuros” (#7,892). Entre 6,028 lemas con “P”, “pato” va en #7,894. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for pato is neighbouring look-alikes ("po", "PT", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [ˈpat̪o]. Frequency #7,894 among 6,028 “P” headwords. 9 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for pato, with forms such as "paot", "patto", and "ppato". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "po", "PT", "paz", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is pato, spelled P-A-T-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ave palmípeda del orden de las anseriformes, que se encuentra en estado silvestre y es domesticada para aprovechar sus huevos, plumas y carne.
  2. 2
    Tiesto que permite orinar a los enfermos en los hospitales y clínicas, sin bajarse de la cama.
  3. 3
    Tiesto para recoger excrementos de los enfermos.
  4. 4
    Hombre que siente atracción sexual por personas de su mismo sexo biológico.
  5. 5
    Individuo patoso, sin gracia y torpe.
  6. 6
    Juego tradicional argentino en que dos equipos de jinetes se disputan una canasta que tiene un pato₁ en su interior con el objetivo de hacerlo pasar por un aro puesto en la línea de fondo del equipo rival. En su versión reglamentada participan cuatro jinetes por equipo y el "pato" es un objeto circular de seis asas.
  7. 7
    Persona que asiste a una fiesta sin ser invitada.^([cita requerida]).
  8. 8
    El contenido de un vaso grande de vino.
  9. 9
    Persona víctima de pullas y burlas.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pato appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Fulano es un pato bailando.
  2. Se metieron de patos a esa fiesta.

Synonyms

ánadechatabacinicacuñagorrónpirataparacaidistaarroceropuerquitosopita

This word in other languages

duck(English)canard(Français)Ente(Deutsch)pato(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • paot
  • patto
  • ppato
  • ptao

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pato - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

paot2patto1ppato1ptao2
Edit distance from "pato"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pato"?
"pato" is spelled P-A-T-O. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈpat̪o].
What does "pato" mean?
As a noun, "pato" means: Ave palmípeda del orden de las anseriformes, que se encuentra en estado silvestre y es domesticada para aprovechar sus huevos, plumas y carne.
What words are commonly confused with "pato"?
"pato" is commonly confused with "po", "PT", "paz". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pato"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pato" is [ˈpat̪o]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pato" come from?
"pato" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pato", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Peru#7,897mirá#7,883joya#7,869iris#7,867

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list