pegarvspelanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,442
“pegar” frequency rank
#48,578
“pelan” frequency rank
55020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pegar pelan
Definition Hacer que una cosa quede adherida a otra. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pelar o de pelarse.

Where the eye mixes pegar and pelan

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

5 ch
pegar
5 ch
pelan

Visual trap between pegar and pelan

A purely visual mix-up. pegar ([peˈɣ̞aɾ]) and pelan ([ˈpelãn]) 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 55020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pegar is recorded at frequency rank #6,442, classified as averb, pronounced [peˈɣ̞aɾ]. pelan is at rank #48,578, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpelãn].

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 55020, this pair ranks #80,761 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pegar vs pelan

Shared letters: aep. Private to "pegar": gr. Private to "pelan": ln.

"pegar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pelan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pegarepgar · peagr · pegarr · peggar · pegra · pgear · ppegar
  • pelaneplan · pealn · pelann · pellan · ppelan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pegar" for "pelan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [ˈpelãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pegar" or "pelan" show up more?
"pegar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,442 in our Spanish list, against #48,578 for "pelan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pegar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pelan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #80,761 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pegar" and "pelan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pelan 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 #80,761 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