pericovspórticoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,104
“perico” frequency rank
#26,198
“pórtico” frequency rank
47302
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perico pórtico
Definition Cualquier ave trepadora de la familia de los loros de tamaño pequeño o mediano. Sitio cubierto y con columnas que se construye delante de los templos u otros edificios suntuosos.

Where the eye mixes perico and pórtico

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. perico runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against pórtico's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
perico
7 ch
pórtico

Look-alike desk: perico vs pórtico

A purely visual mix-up. perico ([peˈɾiko]) and pórtico ([ˈpoɾt̪iko]) 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 47302, 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]. pórtico is at rank #26,198, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpoɾt̪iko].

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 47302, this pair ranks #120,816 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perico vs pórtico

Shared letters: ciopr. Private to "perico": e. Private to "pórtico": tó.

"perico" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pórtico" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perico ← eprico · peirco · pericco · perioc · perrico · pperico

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perico" for "pórtico" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peˈɾiko] versus [ˈpoɾt̪iko]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "perico" or "pórtico" show up more?
"perico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,104 in our Spanish list, against #26,198 for "pórtico". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "perico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pórtico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,816 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perico" and "pórtico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perico vs Perseo". 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 #120,816 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