persavspessoaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,469
“persa” frequency rank
#46,119
“pessoa” frequency rank
57588
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature persa pessoa
Definition Lengua indoeuropea de la rama indoirania, hablada en Irán y las áreas colindantes de Asia. Persona, individuo.

Where the eye mixes persa and pessoa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
persa
6 ch
pessoa

Look-alike desk: persa vs pessoa

A purely visual mix-up. persa ([ˈpeɾsa]) and pessoa ([pə.ˈsoɐ]) 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 57588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

persa is recorded at frequency rank #11,469, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpeɾsa]. pessoa is at rank #46,119, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pə.ˈsoɐ].

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 57588, this pair ranks #69,891 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of persa vs pessoa

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "persa": r. Private to "pessoa": o.

"persa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pessoa" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persaeprsa · perrsa · perssa · ppersa
  • pessoaepssoa · pesoa · pesosa · pessao · ppessoa · psesoa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "persa" and "pessoa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpeɾsa] versus [pə.ˈsoɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "persa" vs "pessoa" - which ranks higher?
"persa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,469 in our Spanish list, against #46,119 for "pessoa". 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 "persa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pessoa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,891 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "persa" and "pessoa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perso vs pessoa". 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 #69,891 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