pericovspersoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,104
“perico” frequency rank
#46,116
“perso” frequency rank
67220
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perico perso
Definition Cualquier ave trepadora de la familia de los loros de tamaño pequeño o mediano. Capacidad de hablar o actuar sin inhibiciones.

Where the eye mixes perico and perso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. perico runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against perso's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
perico
5 ch
perso

Look-alike desk: perico vs perso

A purely visual mix-up. perico ([peˈɾiko]) and perso ([ˈpeɾso]) 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 67220, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perico is recorded at frequency rank #21,104, classified as anoun, pronounced [peˈɾiko]. perso is at rank #46,116, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpeɾso].

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 67220, this pair ranks #37,719 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of perico vs perso

Shared letters: eopr. Private to "perico": ci. Private to "perso": s.

"perico" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "perso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perico ← eprico · peirco · pericco · perioc · perrico · pperico
  • perso ← eprso · persso · pesro · pperso · preso

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perico" and "perso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([peˈɾiko] versus [ˈpeɾso]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "perico" or "perso" show up more?
"perico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,104 in our Spanish list, against #46,116 for "perso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "perico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,719 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perico" and "perso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Perseo vs perso". 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 #37,719 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