pesarvspicarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#526
“pesar” frequency rank
#18,348
“picar” frequency rank
18874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pesar picar
Definition Establecer el peso o la masa de algo, en particular empleando un instrumento para tal efecto. Golpear algo con una punta, agujereándolo o no.

Where the eye mixes pesar and picar

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

5 ch
pesar
5 ch
picar

Visual trap between pesar and picar

A purely visual mix-up. pesar ([peˈsaɾ]) and picar ([piˈkaɾ]) 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 18874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pesar is recorded at frequency rank #526, classified as averb, pronounced [peˈsaɾ]. picar is at rank #18,348, tagged as averb, pronounced [piˈkaɾ].

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 18874, this pair ranks #266,120 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pesar vs picar

Shared letters: apr. Private to "pesar": es. Private to "picar": ci.

"pesar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "picar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pesarepsar · peasr · pesarr · pesra · pessar · ppesar · psear
  • picaripcar · pciar · piacr · picarr · piccar · picra · ppicar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pesar" and "picar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([peˈsaɾ] versus [piˈkaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pesar" vs "picar" - which ranks higher?
"pesar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #526 in our Spanish list, against #18,348 for "picar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pesar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "picar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,120 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pesar" and "picar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "petar vs picar". 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 #266,120 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