perravspetaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,144
“perra” frequency rank
#42,072
“peta” frequency rank
47216
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perra peta
Definition Hembra del perro (Canis lupus familiaris). Cigarrillo de marihuana u otras drogas.

Where the eye mixes perra and peta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
perra
4 ch
peta

Why the eye confuses perra with peta

A purely visual mix-up. perra ([ˈpera]) and peta ([ˈpet̪a]) 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 47216, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perra is recorded at frequency rank #5,144, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpera]. peta is at rank #42,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpet̪a].

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 47216, this pair ranks #121,300 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perra vs peta

Shared letters: aep. Private to "perra": r. Private to "peta": t.

"perra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "peta" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perraeprra · perar · pperra · prera
  • petaepta · peat · petta · ppeta · ptea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perra" for "peta" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpera] versus [ˈpet̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "perra" or "peta" show up more?
"perra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,144 in our Spanish list, against #42,072 for "peta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "perra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "peta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,300 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perra" and "peta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peta vs petar". 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 #121,300 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