pararávspícaraWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#36,729
“parará” frequency rank
#46,151
“pícara” frequency rank
82880
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set parará and pícara apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
parará
6 ch
pícara

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parará is [paɾaˈɾa] 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 82880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parará is recorded at frequency rank #36,729, classified as averb, pronounced [paɾaˈɾa]. 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 82880, this pair ranks #8,749 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of parará vs pícara

Shared letters: apr. Private to "parará": á. Private to "pícara": .

"parará" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pícara" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequency comparison

parará#36,729
pícara#46,151

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parará" and "pícara" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "parará" is a verb and "pícara" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "parará" or "pícara"?
"parará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,729 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.

Remembering parará vs pícara

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “parará”; for an adjective, it's “pícara”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “parará” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list