pecarvspegaTell them apart

Quick tell: pecar is a verb, pega is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pecar” is a verb and “pega” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,714
“pecar” frequency rank
#5,143
“pega” frequency rank
32857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pecar pega
Definition Obrar en contra de ciertas reglas o normas éticas o mandamientos religiosos; cometer un pecado o una infracción; transgredir una prohibición moral. Acción de pegar o conglutinar una cosa con otra.

Where the eye mixes pecar and pega

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pecar
4 ch
pega

Visual trap between pecar and pega

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pecar is [peˈkaɾ] while pega is [ˈpeɣ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pecar is recorded at frequency rank #27,714, classified as averb, pronounced [peˈkaɾ]. pega is at rank #5,143, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpeɣ̞a].

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 32857, this pair ranks #199,836 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pecar vs pega

Shared letters: aep. Private to "pecar": cr. Private to "pega": g.

"pecar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pega" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pecarepcar · pcear · peacr · pecarr · peccar · pecra · ppecar
  • pegaepga · peag · pegga · pgea · ppega

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pecar" and "pega" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pecar" is a verb and "pega" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pecar" or "pega"?
"pega" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,143 in our Spanish list, against #27,714 for "pecar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "pecar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pega" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #199,836 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pecar" and "pega" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pecar vs petar". 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 #199,836 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