peavspeiWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,267
“pea” frequency rank
#45,496
“pei” frequency rank
78763
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pea pei
Definition Estado de intoxicación producido por la ingesta de alcohol, que provoca una alteración de la conciencia y de las facultades mentales y físicas. Decimoséptima letra del alfabeto hebreo

Where the eye mixes pea and pei

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

3 ch
pea
3 ch
pei

Visual trap between pea and pei

A purely visual mix-up. pea ([ˈpea]) and pei ([ˈpej]) 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 a single letter - a in “pea” becomes i in “pei”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pea is recorded at frequency rank #33,267, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpea]. pei is at rank #45,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpej].

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 78763, this pair ranks #13,976 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pea vs pei

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pea": a. Private to "pei": i.

"pea" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "pei" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pea" and "pei" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpea] versus [ˈpej]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pea" or "pei"?
"pea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,267 in our Spanish list, against #45,496 for "pei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,976 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pea" and "pei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pei vs prey". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #13,976 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