pacosvspavosConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#47,304
“pacos” frequency rank
#25,395
“pavos” frequency rank
72699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pacos pavos
Definition Forma del plural de paco. Forma del plural de pavo.

Where the eye mixes pacos and pavos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pacos and pavos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
pacos
5 ch
pavos

Look-alike desk: pacos vs pavos

A purely visual mix-up. pacos ([ˈpakos]) and pavos ([ˈpaβ̞os]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - c in “pacos” becomes v in “pavos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pacos is recorded at frequency rank #47,304, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpakos]. pavos is at rank #25,395, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaβ̞os].

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 72699, this pair ranks #24,834 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pacos vs pavos

Shared letters: aops. Private to "pacos": c. Private to "pavos": v.

"pacos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pavos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pacos ← apcos · paccos · pacoss · pacso · paocs · pcaos · ppacos
  • pavos ← apvos · pabos · paovs · pavoss · pavso · pavvos · ppavos · pvaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pacos" for "pavos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpakos] versus [ˈpaβ̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pacos" vs "pavos" - which ranks higher?
"pavos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,395 in our Spanish list, against #47,304 for "pacos". 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 "pacos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pavos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,834 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pacos" and "pavos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pacos vs pacta". 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 #24,834 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