patavspetaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,869
“pata” frequency rank
#42,072
“peta” frequency rank
47941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pata peta
Definition Extremidad de los animales utilizada para la locomoción en tierra, que va en número de un único par en las aves y los primates hasta unos 200 pares en los miriápodos de la clase Diplopoda. Funcionalmente similar, es sin embargo evolutivamente muy diferente entre invertebrados y vertebrados. En estos últimos está por lo general dividida claramente en dos secciones, articuladas en la rodilla. Cigarrillo de marihuana u otras drogas.

Where the eye mixes pata and peta

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

4 ch
pata
4 ch
peta

Why the eye confuses pata with peta

A purely visual mix-up. pata ([ˈpat̪a]) and peta ([ˈpet̪a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “pata” becomes e in “peta”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pata is recorded at frequency rank #5,869, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪a]. peta is at rank #42,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpet̪a].

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 47941, this pair ranks #117,219 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pata vs peta

Shared letters: apt. Private to "pata": -. Private to "peta": e.

"pata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "peta" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patapaat · patta · ppata · ptaa
  • petaepta · peat · petta · ppeta · ptea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pata" for "peta" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpat̪a] versus [ˈpet̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pata" vs "peta" - which ranks higher?
"pata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,869 in our Spanish list, against #42,072 for "peta". 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 "pata" and "peta" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "peta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #117,219 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pata" and "peta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peta 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 #117,219 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