pesadosvspescadosWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: pesados is a participle, pescados is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pesados” is a participle and “pescados” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,692
“pesados” frequency rank
#18,642
“pescados” frequency rank
27334
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pesados pescados
Definition Forma del plural de pesado, participio de pesar. Forma del plural de pescado.

Where the eye mixes pesados and pescados

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. pesados runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against pescados's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
pesados
8 ch
pescados

Why the eye confuses pesados with pescados

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pesados is [peˈsað̞os] while pescados is [pesˈkað̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pesados is recorded at frequency rank #8,692, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [peˈsað̞os]. pescados is at rank #18,642, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pesˈkað̞os].

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 27334, this pair ranks #227,326 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pesados vs pescados

Shared letters: adeops. Private to "pesados": -. Private to "pescados": c.

"pesados" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "pescados" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pesadosepsados · peasdos · pesaddos · pesadoss · pesadso · pesaods · pesdaos · pessados
  • pescadosepscados · pecsados · pesacdos · pescaddos · pescadoss · pescadso · pescaods · pesccados

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pesados" for "pescados" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pesados" is a participle and "pescados" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pesados" or "pescados"?
"pesados" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,692 in our Spanish list, against #18,642 for "pescados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pesados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pescados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #227,326 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pesados" and "pescados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pescados vs picados". 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 #227,326 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