patosvspotesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,666
“patos” frequency rank
#48,003
“potes” frequency rank
64669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patos potes
Definition Forma del plural de pato. Forma del plural de pote.

Where the eye mixes patos and potes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. patos and potes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
patos
5 ch
potes

Why the eye confuses patos with potes

A purely visual mix-up. patos ([ˈpat̪os]) and potes ([ˈpot̪es]) 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 64669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

patos is recorded at frequency rank #16,666, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪os]. potes is at rank #48,003, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpot̪es].

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 64669, this pair ranks #44,932 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of patos vs potes

Shared letters: opst. Private to "patos": a. Private to "potes": e.

"patos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "potes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patos ← paots · patoss · pattos · ppatos · ptaos
  • potes ← optes · poets · potess · pottes · ppotes · ptoes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "patos" and "potes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpat̪os] versus [ˈpot̪es]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "patos" vs "potes" - which ranks higher?
"patos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,666 in our Spanish list, against #48,003 for "potes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "patos" and "potes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "patos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "potes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,932 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "patos" and "potes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "postas vs potes". 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 #44,932 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