Which to use
“pedal” and “pedales” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,168
- “pedal” frequency rank
- #33,269
- “pedales” frequency rank
- 56437
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pedal | pedales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Palanca o pieza que se oprime con el pie para poner en movimiento, controlar o activar el mecanismo de diferentes máquinas, vehículos, instrumentos musicales, etc. | Forma del plural de pedal. |
Where the eye mixes pedal and pedales
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pedal runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against pedales's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pedal with pedales
A purely visual mix-up. pedal ([peˈð̞al]) and pedales ([peˈð̞ales]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pedal” sits inside “pedales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pedal is recorded at frequency rank #23,168, classified as anoun, pronounced [peˈð̞al]. pedales is at rank #33,269, tagged as anoun, pronounced [peˈð̞ales].
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 56437, this pair ranks #74,601 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pedal vs pedales
Shared letters: adelp. Private to "pedal": -. Private to "pedales": s.
"pedal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pedales" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pedal" and "pedales" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pedal" or "pedales" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pedal" and "pedales" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pedal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pedales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,601 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pedal" and "pedales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pedalear vs pedales". 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 #74,601 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.