panvspegWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,324
“pan” frequency rank
#49,850
“peg” frequency rank
51174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pan peg
Definition Masa a base de harina y agua endurecida por cocción al horno. Mutación dura del sustantivo masculino beg.

Where the eye mixes pan and peg

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
pan
3 ch
peg

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pan ([ˈpãn]) and peg (/ˈpeːk/) 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 51174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pan is recorded at frequency rank #1,324, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpãn]. peg is at rank #49,850, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeːk/.

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 51174, this pair ranks #99,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pan vs peg

Shared letters: p. Private to "pan": an. Private to "peg": eg.

"pan" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "peg" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pan" and "peg" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpãn] versus /ˈpeːk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pan" or "peg"?
"pan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,324 in our Spanish list, against #49,850 for "peg". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list