pactavspicotaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pacta is a verb, picota is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pacta” is a verb and “picota” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,977
“pacta” frequency rank
#44,373
“picota” frequency rank
92350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pacta picota
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pactar. Rollo o columna de piedra o de fábrica, que había a la entrada de algunos lugares, donde se exponían las cabezas de los ajusticiados, o los reos, a la vergüenza.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pacta and picota apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pacta
6 ch
picota

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pacta is [ˈpakt̪a] while picota is [piˈkot̪a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pacta is recorded at frequency rank #47,977, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpakt̪a]. picota is at rank #44,373, tagged as anoun, pronounced [piˈkot̪a].

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 92350, this pair ranks #1,548 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pacta vs picota

Shared letters: acpt. Private to "pacta": -. Private to "picota": io.

"pacta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "picota" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pactaapcta · pacat · paccta · pactta · patca · pcata · ppacta
  • picotaipcota · pciota · piccota · picoat · picotta · pictoa · piocta · ppicota

Frequency comparison

pacta#47,977
picota#44,373

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pacta" and "picota" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pacta" is a verb and "picota" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pacta" or "picota"?
"picota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,373 in our Spanish list, against #47,977 for "pacta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pacta vs picota

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “pacta”; for a noun, it's “picota”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pacta” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list