pelavspesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,782
“pela” frequency rank
#20,161
“pes” frequency rank
41943
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pela pes
Definition Paliza (sucesión de golpes). Pie.

Where the eye mixes pela and pes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pela
3 ch
pes

Why the eye confuses pela with pes

A purely visual mix-up. pela ([ˈpela]) and pes (/ˈpeːs/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41943, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pela is recorded at frequency rank #21,782, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpela]. pes is at rank #20,161, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeːs/.

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 41943, this pair ranks #150,928 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pela vs pes

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pela": al. Private to "pes": s.

"pela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pelaepla · peal · pella · plea · ppela

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pela" and "pes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpela] versus /ˈpeːs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pela" or "pes"?
"pes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,161 in our Spanish list, against #21,782 for "pela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pela" and "pes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #150,928 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pela" and "pes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pela 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 #150,928 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