pacevspeleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,175
“pace” frequency rank
#48,579
“pele” frequency rank
83754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pace pele
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pacer. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de pelar.

Where the eye mixes pace and pele

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pace and pele follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
pace
4 ch
pele

Why the eye confuses pace with pele

A purely visual mix-up. pace ([ˈpase]) and pele ([ˈpele]) 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 83754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pace is recorded at frequency rank #35,175, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpase]. pele is at rank #48,579, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpele].

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 83754, this pair ranks #7,771 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pace vs pele

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pace": ac. Private to "pele": l.

"pace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pele" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pace ← apce · pacce · paec · pcae · ppace
  • pele ← eple · peel · pelle · plee · ppele

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pace" and "pele" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpase] versus [ˈpele]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pace" vs "pele" - which ranks higher?
"pace" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,175 in our Spanish list, against #48,579 for "pele". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pele" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,771 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pace" and "pele" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pele vs pence". 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 #7,771 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