paisavsparcaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,754
“paisa” frequency rank
#49,842
“parca” frequency rank
83596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paisa parca
Definition Amigo o compañero con quien se tiene mucha intimidad. Cada una de las tres diosas romanas del destino, llamadas Nona, Décima y Morta. La primera hilaba el hijo de la vida humana, la segunda lo medía con una vara y la tercera lo cortaba.

Where the eye mixes paisa and parca

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. paisa (CVVCV) and parca (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
paisa
5 ch
parca

Why the eye confuses paisa with parca

A purely visual mix-up. paisa ([ˈpajsa]) and parca ([ˈpaɾka]) 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 83596, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paisa is recorded at frequency rank #33,754, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpajsa]. parca is at rank #49,842, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaɾka].

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 83596, this pair ranks #7,971 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of paisa vs parca

Shared letters: ap. Private to "paisa": is. Private to "parca": cr.

"paisa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "parca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paisa ← apisa · paias · paissa · pasia · piasa · ppaisa
  • parca ← aprca · pacra · parac · parcca · parrca · pparca · praca

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "paisa" for "parca" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpajsa] versus [ˈpaɾka]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "paisa" vs "parca" - which ranks higher?
"paisa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,754 in our Spanish list, against #49,842 for "parca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "paisa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "parca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,971 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paisa" and "parca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parca vs PRC". 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 #7,971 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