pelanvspesanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,578
“pelan” frequency rank
#17,789
“pesan” frequency rank
66367
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pelan pesan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pelar o de pelarse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pesar.

Where the eye mixes pelan and pesan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pelan and pesan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
pelan
5 ch
pesan

Look-alike desk: pelan vs pesan

A purely visual mix-up. pelan ([ˈpelãn]) and pesan ([ˈpesãn]) 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 a single letter - l in “pelan” becomes s in “pesan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pelan is recorded at frequency rank #48,578, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpelãn]. pesan is at rank #17,789, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpesãn].

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 66367, this pair ranks #40,060 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pelan vs pesan

Shared letters: aenp. Private to "pelan": l. Private to "pesan": s.

"pelan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pesan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pelan ← eplan · pealn · pelann · pellan · ppelan
  • pesan ← epsan · peasn · pesann · pesna · pessan · ppesan · psean

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pelan" and "pesan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpelãn] versus [ˈpesãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pelan" or "pesan"?
"pesan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,789 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pelan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pesan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,060 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pelan" and "pesan" 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 #40,060 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