pavovspijoTell them apart

Quick tell: pavo is a noun, pijo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pavo” is a noun and “pijo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,892
“pavo” frequency rank
#47,323
“pijo” frequency rank
60215
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pavo pijo
Definition (Meleagris gallopavo) Ave gallinácea de hasta un metro de altura, plumaje café verdoso, cabeza y cuello desnudos cubiertos de carúnculas rojas, que en estado silvestre vive desde Canadá hasta el norte de México. Domesticada por los amerindios, hoy es un ave de corral que se consume en todo el mundo. Dicho de una persona, que ostentosamente pertenece o simula pertenecer a una clase social pudiente

Where the eye mixes pavo and pijo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pavo and pijo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
pavo
4 ch
pijo

Why the eye confuses pavo with pijo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pavo is [ˈpaβ̞o] while pijo is [ˈpixo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60215, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pavo is recorded at frequency rank #12,892, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaβ̞o]. pijo is at rank #47,323, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpixo].

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 60215, this pair ranks #59,739 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pavo vs pijo

Shared letters: op. Private to "pavo": av. Private to "pijo": ij.

"pavo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pijo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pavo ← apvo · pabo · paov · pavvo · ppavo · pvao
  • pijo ← ipjo · pijjo · pioj · pjio · ppijo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pavo" and "pijo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pavo" is a noun and "pijo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pavo" or "pijo"?
"pavo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,892 in our Spanish list, against #47,323 for "pijo". 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 "pavo" and "pijo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pavo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pijo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,739 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pavo" and "pijo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pijo vs pitón". 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 #59,739 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