palosvspatasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,095
“palos” frequency rank
#4,734
“patas” frequency rank
10829
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature palos patas
Definition Forma del plural de palo. Forma del plural de pata.

Where the eye mixes palos and patas

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

5 ch
palos
5 ch
patas

Look-alike desk: palos vs patas

A purely visual mix-up. palos ([ˈpalos]) and patas ([ˈpat̪as]) 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 10829, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

palos is recorded at frequency rank #6,095, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpalos]. patas is at rank #4,734, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪as].

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 10829, this pair ranks #297,234 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of palos vs patas

Shared letters: aps. Private to "palos": lo. Private to "patas": t.

"palos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "patas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • palosaplos · pallos · paloss · palso · paols · plaos · ppalos
  • pataspaats · patass · pattas · ppatas · ptaas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "palos" and "patas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpalos] versus [ˈpat̪as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "palos" or "patas"?
"patas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,734 in our Spanish list, against #6,095 for "palos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "palos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #297,234 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "palos" and "patas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patas vs petar". 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 #297,234 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