pelanvspicanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,578
“pelan” frequency rank
#32,333
“pican” frequency rank
80911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pelan pican
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 picar o de picarse.

Where the eye mixes pelan and pican

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

Visual trap between pelan and pican

A purely visual mix-up. pelan ([ˈpelãn]) and pican ([ˈpikãn]) 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 80911, 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]. pican is at rank #32,333, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpikãn].

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 80911, this pair ranks #11,071 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pelan vs pican

Shared letters: anp. Private to "pelan": el. Private to "pican": ci.

"pelan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pican" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pelan ← eplan · pealn · pelann · pellan · ppelan
  • pican ← ipcan · pcian · piacn · picann · piccan · picna · ppican

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pelan" for "pican" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpelãn] versus [ˈpikãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pelan" vs "pican" - which ranks higher?
"pican" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,333 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 "pican" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,071 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pelan" and "pican" 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 #11,071 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