patavspúaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,869
“pata” frequency rank
#46,152
“púa” frequency rank
52021
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pata púa
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. Cuerpo de forma acicular, flexible, con punta afilada.

Where the eye mixes pata and púa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pata
3 ch
púa

Look-alike desk: pata vs púa

A purely visual mix-up. pata ([ˈpat̪a]) and púa ([ˈpua]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52021, 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]. púa is at rank #46,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpua].

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 52021, this pair ranks #94,827 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pata vs púa

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pata": t. Private to "púa": ú.

"pata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "púa" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patapaat · patta · ppata · ptaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pata" and "púa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpat̪a] versus [ˈpua]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pata" or "púa" show up more?
"pata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,869 in our Spanish list, against #46,152 for "púa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pata" and "púa" 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 "púa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,827 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pata" and "púa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs púa". 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 #94,827 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