pavadavspicadaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#44,362
“pavada” frequency rank
#14,914
“picada” frequency rank
59276
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pavada picada
Definition Grupo de pavos. Senda estrecha en los montes, y especialmente el paso en los arroyos por donde sólo se puede cruzar a caballo.

Where the eye mixes pavada and picada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pavada and picada follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
pavada
6 ch
picada

Look-alike desk: pavada vs picada

A purely visual mix-up. pavada ([paˈβ̞að̞a]) and picada ([piˈkað̞a]) 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 59276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pavada is recorded at frequency rank #44,362, classified as anoun, pronounced [paˈβ̞að̞a]. picada is at rank #14,914, tagged as anoun, pronounced [piˈkað̞a].

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 59276, this pair ranks #63,237 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pavada vs picada

Shared letters: adp. Private to "pavada": v. Private to "picada": ci.

"pavada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "picada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pavada ← apvada · paavda · pabada · pavaad · pavadda · pavdaa · pavvada · ppavada
  • picada ← ipcada · pciada · piacda · picaad · picadda · piccada · picdaa · ppicada

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pavada" for "picada" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈβ̞að̞a] versus [piˈkað̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pavada" vs "picada" - which ranks higher?
"picada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,914 in our Spanish list, against #44,362 for "pavada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pavada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "picada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,237 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pavada" and "picada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pavada vs Poveda". 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 #63,237 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