pensionvsprisiónTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,614
“pension” frequency rank
#1,746
“prisión” frequency rank
32360
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pension prisión
Definition Pensión, jubilación. Cantidad monetaria que se otorga en forma periódica por diferentes motivos a una persona que no trabaja. Acción o acto de prender, coger o asir.

Where the eye mixes pension and prisión

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pension (CVCCVVC) and prisión (CCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
pension
7 ch
prisión

Visual trap between pension and prisión

A purely visual mix-up. pension ([paŋˈɧɯːn]) and prisión ([pɾiˈsjõn]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32360, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pension is recorded at frequency rank #30,614, classified as anoun, pronounced [paŋˈɧɯːn]. prisión is at rank #1,746, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɾiˈsjõn].

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 32360, this pair ranks #202,369 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pension vs prisión

Shared letters: inps. Private to "pension": eo. Private to "prisión": ró.

"pension" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "prisión" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pension ← epnsion · pencion · penison · pennsion · pensino · pensionn · pensoin · penssion

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pension" for "prisión" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paŋˈɧɯːn] versus [pɾiˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pension" vs "prisión" - which ranks higher?
"prisión" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,746 in our Spanish list, against #30,614 for "pension". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pension" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prisión" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #202,369 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pension" and "prisión" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pension vs punción". 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 #202,369 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