Which to use
“pastilla” and “puntilla” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,533
- “pastilla” frequency rank
- #46,148
- “puntilla” frequency rank
- 59681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pastilla | puntilla |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Droga comprimida en un tamaño manipulable para ser administrada con fines medicinales. | Tipo de encaje muy angosto hecho en puntas que se coloca para guarnecer los bordes de pañuelos, mangas, toallas, escotes, etc.. |
Where the eye mixes pastilla and puntilla
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pastilla and puntilla follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: pastilla vs puntilla
A purely visual mix-up. pastilla ([pasˈt̪iʝa]) and puntilla ([pũn̪ˈt̪iʝa]) 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 59681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pastilla is recorded at frequency rank #13,533, classified as anoun, pronounced [pasˈt̪iʝa]. puntilla is at rank #46,148, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pũn̪ˈt̪iʝa].
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 59681, this pair ranks #61,745 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pastilla vs puntilla
Shared letters: ailpt. Private to "pastilla": s. Private to "puntilla": nu.
"pastilla" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "puntilla" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pastilla" and "puntilla" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pastilla" or "puntilla" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pastilla" and "puntilla" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pastilla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puntilla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,745 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pastilla" and "puntilla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patilla vs puntilla". 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 #61,745 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.