pesandovspicandoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,384
“pesando” frequency rank
#35,189
“picando” frequency rank
74573
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pesando picando
Definition Gerundio de pesar. Gerundio de picar.

Where the eye mixes pesando and picando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
pesando
7 ch
picando

Look-alike desk: pesando vs picando

A purely visual mix-up. pesando ([peˈsãn̪d̪o]) and picando ([piˈkãn̪d̪o]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pesando is recorded at frequency rank #39,384, classified as averb, pronounced [peˈsãn̪d̪o]. picando is at rank #35,189, tagged as averb, pronounced [piˈkãn̪d̪o].

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 74573, this pair ranks #21,072 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pesando vs picando

Shared letters: adnop. Private to "pesando": es. Private to "picando": ci.

"pesando" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "picando" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pesandoepsando · peasndo · pesadno · pesanddo · pesanndo · pesanod · pessando · ppesando
  • picandoipcando · pciando · piacndo · picadno · picanddo · picanndo · picanod · piccando

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pesando" for "picando" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peˈsãn̪d̪o] versus [piˈkãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pesando" or "picando"?
"picando" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,189 in our Spanish list, against #39,384 for "pesando". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pesando" and "picando" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pesando" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "picando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,072 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pesando" and "picando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pesando vs petardo". 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 #21,072 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