PáezvspeoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Páez is a name, peo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Páez” is a name and “peo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,259
“Páez” frequency rank
#22,450
“peo” frequency rank
39709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Páez peo
Definition Apellido. Transcripción coloquial de la pronunciación laxa de pedo, en la que la consonante dental se elide habitualmente.

Where the eye mixes Páez and peo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Páez runs 4 letters (CVVC) against peo's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Páez
3 ch
peo

Look-alike desk: Páez vs peo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Páez is [ˈpaes] while peo is [ˈpeo]. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Páez is recorded at frequency rank #17,259, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈpaes]. peo is at rank #22,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpeo].

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 39709, this pair ranks #163,082 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Páez vs peo

Shared letters: ep. Private to "Páez": zá. Private to "peo": o.

"Páez" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "peo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Páez" and "peo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Páez" is a name and "peo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "Páez" or "peo" show up more?
"Páez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,259 in our Spanish list, against #22,450 for "peo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Páez" and "peo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Páez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "peo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #163,082 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Páez" and "peo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peo vs prey". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #163,082 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