pagarávspícaraConfusable pair

Quick tell: pagará is a verb, pícara is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pagará” is a verb and “pícara” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,283
“pagará” frequency rank
#46,151
“pícara” frequency rank
57434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagará pícara
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de pagar o de pagarse. Forma del femenino singular de pícaro.

Where the eye mixes pagará and pícara

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pagará
6 ch
pícara

Why the eye confuses pagará with pícara

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pagará is [paɣ̞aˈɾa] while pícara is [ˈpikaɾa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagará is recorded at frequency rank #11,283, classified as averb, pronounced [paɣ̞aˈɾa]. pícara is at rank #46,151, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpikaɾa].

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 57434, this pair ranks #70,518 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pagará vs pícara

Shared letters: apr. Private to "pagará": . Private to "pícara": .

"pagará" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pícara" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pagará" and "pícara" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pagará" is a verb and "pícara" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pagará" vs "pícara" - which ranks higher?
"pagará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,283 in our Spanish list, against #46,151 for "pícara". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagará" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pícara" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,518 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagará" and "pícara" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pícara vs pisada". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #70,518 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