pelvisvspolvosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,557
“pelvis” frequency rank
#19,212
“polvos” frequency rank
45769
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pelvis polvos
Definition Cavidad del cuerpo humano, en la parte inferior del tronco, y en cuya formación entran los huesos sacro, cóccix e innominados, y las partes blandas. Contiene la terminación del tubo digestivo, la vejiga urinaria y algunos órganos, correspondientes al aparato genital, principalmente en la mujer. Forma del plural de polvo.

Where the eye mixes pelvis and polvos

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

6 ch
pelvis
6 ch
polvos

Why the eye confuses pelvis with polvos

A purely visual mix-up. pelvis ([ˈpelβ̞is]) and polvos ([ˈpolβ̞os]) 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 45769, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pelvis is recorded at frequency rank #26,557, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpelβ̞is]. polvos is at rank #19,212, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpolβ̞os].

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 45769, this pair ranks #129,545 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pelvis vs polvos

Shared letters: lpsv. Private to "pelvis": ei. Private to "polvos": o.

"pelvis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "polvos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pelvis ← eplvis · pelbis · pelivs · pellvis · pelviss · pelvsi · pelvvis · pevlis
  • polvos ← oplvos · plovos · polbos · pollvos · polovs · polvoss · polvso · polvvos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pelvis" for "polvos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpelβ̞is] versus [ˈpolβ̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pelvis" vs "polvos" - which ranks higher?
"polvos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,212 in our Spanish list, against #26,557 for "pelvis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pelvis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "polvos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,545 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pelvis" and "polvos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pelas vs pelvis". 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 #129,545 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