persavspiernaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,469
“persa” frequency rank
#4,637
“pierna” frequency rank
16106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature persa pierna
Definition Lengua indoeuropea de la rama indoirania, hablada en Irán y las áreas colindantes de Asia. Miembros inferiores del ser humano y posteriores de otros vertebrados terrestres, que se insertan en la cadera y se emplean para la locomoción.

Where the eye mixes persa and pierna

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

5 ch
persa
6 ch
pierna

Why the eye confuses persa with pierna

A purely visual mix-up. persa ([ˈpeɾsa]) and pierna ([ˈpjeɾna]) 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 16106, 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]. pierna is at rank #4,637, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpjeɾna].

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 16106, this pair ranks #277,482 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of persa vs pierna

Shared letters: aepr. Private to "persa": s. Private to "pierna": in.

"persa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pierna" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persaeprsa · perrsa · perssa · ppersa
  • piernaiperna · peirna · pienra · pieran · piernna · pierrna · pirena · ppierna

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "persa" for "pierna" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpeɾsa] versus [ˈpjeɾna]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "persa" or "pierna" show up more?
"pierna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,637 in our Spanish list, against #11,469 for "persa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "pierna" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,482 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "persa" and "pierna" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parca vs persa". 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 #277,482 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