pericovspuercoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,104
“perico” frequency rank
#18,055
“puerco” frequency rank
39159
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perico puerco
Definition Cualquier ave trepadora de la familia de los loros de tamaño pequeño o mediano. (Sus scrofa domesticus) Animal mamífero, artiodáctilo, de cuerpo robusto y piel gruesa, domesticado desde la Antigüedad para aprovechar su carne y su cuero. Es una variedad de la misma especie que en su forma salvaje se conoce como jabalí.

Where the eye mixes perico and puerco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. perico (CVCVCV) and puerco (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
perico
6 ch
puerco

Look-alike desk: perico vs puerco

A purely visual mix-up. perico ([peˈɾiko]) and puerco ([ˈpweɾko]) 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 39159, 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]. puerco is at rank #18,055, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpweɾko].

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 39159, this pair ranks #166,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perico vs puerco

Shared letters: ceopr. Private to "perico": i. Private to "puerco": u.

"perico" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "puerco" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perico ← eprico · peirco · pericco · perioc · perrico · pperico
  • puerco ← peurco · ppuerco · puecro · puercco · pueroc · puerrco · pureco · uperco

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perico" and "puerco" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([peˈɾiko] versus [ˈpweɾko]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perico" vs "puerco" - which ranks higher?
"puerco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,055 in our Spanish list, against #21,104 for "perico". 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 "perico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "puerco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #166,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perico" and "puerco" 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 #166,085 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