pazvspúaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#435
“paz” frequency rank
#46,152
“púa” frequency rank
46587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paz púa
Definition Condición espiritual o anímica de tranquilidad o quietud. Cuerpo de forma acicular, flexible, con punta afilada.

Where the eye mixes paz and púa

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

3 ch
paz
3 ch
púa

Look-alike desk: paz vs púa

A purely visual mix-up. paz ([ˈpas]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paz is recorded at frequency rank #435, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpas]. 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 46587, this pair ranks #124,872 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paz vs púa

Shared letters: ap. Private to "paz": z. Private to "púa": ú.

"paz" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "púa" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "paz" for "púa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpas] versus [ˈpua]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "paz" or "púa"?
"paz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #435 in our Spanish list, against #46,152 for "púa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paz" 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 #124,872 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paz" and "púa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs púa". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #124,872 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