peinevspieConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,895
“peine” frequency rank
#1,022
“pie” frequency rank
24917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peine pie
Definition Utensilio plano con púas que sirve para arreglar, desenredar y limpiar el cabello u otras fibras. Miembro del cuerpo que se encuentra al final de las piernas y debajo del tobillo.

Where the eye mixes peine and pie

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

5 ch
peine
3 ch
pie

Why the eye confuses peine with pie

A purely visual mix-up. peine ([ˈpejne]) and pie ([ˈpje]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peine is recorded at frequency rank #23,895, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpejne]. pie is at rank #1,022, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpje].

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 24917, this pair ranks #238,900 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peine vs pie

Shared letters: eip. Private to "peine": n. Private to "pie": -.

"peine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "pie" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peineepine · peien · peinne · penie · piene · ppeine

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "peine" and "pie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpejne] versus [ˈpje]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "peine" vs "pie" - which ranks higher?
"pie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,022 in our Spanish list, against #23,895 for "peine". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "peine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #238,900 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peine" and "pie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peine vs pence". 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 #238,900 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