padrevsparceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#363
“padre” frequency rank
#46,104
“parce” frequency rank
46467
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature padre parce
Definition Macho, animal o humano, que ha engendrado o adoptado hijos. Amigo, compañero, socio o cómplice con quien se tiene mucha intimidad.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
padre
5 ch
parce

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. padre ([ˈpað̞ɾe]) and parce ([ˈpaɾse]) 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 46467, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

padre is recorded at frequency rank #363, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpað̞ɾe]. parce is at rank #46,104, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaɾse].

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 46467, this pair ranks #125,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of padre vs parce

Shared letters: aepr. Private to "padre": d. Private to "parce": c.

"padre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "parce" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • padreapdre · paddre · pader · padrre · parde · pdare · ppadre
  • parceaprce · pacre · parcce · parec · parrce · pparce · prace

Frequency comparison

padre#363
parce#46,104

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "padre" and "parce" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpað̞ɾe] versus [ˈpaɾse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "padre" or "parce"?
"padre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #363 in our Spanish list, against #46,104 for "parce". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering padre vs parce

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “padre” 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