pachovspactoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pacho is a adjective, pacto is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pacho” is an adjective and “pacto” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,057
“pacho” frequency rank
#3,349
“pacto” frequency rank
45406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pacho pacto
Definition Que rehúye el trabajo o la fatiga. Acuerdo o tratado entre personas o entidades en donde se comprometen a cumplir lo estipulado.

Where the eye mixes pacho and pacto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pacho
5 ch
pacto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pacho is [ˈpat͡ʃo] while pacto is [ˈpakt̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “pacho” becomes t in “pacto”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pacho is recorded at frequency rank #42,057, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpat͡ʃo]. pacto is at rank #3,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpakt̪o].

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 45406, this pair ranks #131,604 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pacho vs pacto

Shared letters: acop. Private to "pacho": h. Private to "pacto": t.

"pacho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pacto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pachoapcho · paccho · pachho · pacoh · pahco · pcaho · ppacho
  • pactoapcto · paccto · pacot · pactto · patco · pcato · ppacto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pacho" and "pacto" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pacho" is an adjective and "pacto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pacho" or "pacto"?
"pacto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,349 in our Spanish list, against #42,057 for "pacho". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list