picavspúaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,902
“pica” frequency rank
#46,152
“púa” frequency rank
57054
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pica púa
Definition Lanza de 3 o más metros, compuesta de un asta con un hierro pequeño y agudo en el extremo superior. Cuerpo de forma acicular, flexible, con punta afilada.

Where the eye mixes pica and púa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pica
3 ch
púa

Look-alike desk: pica vs púa

A purely visual mix-up. pica ([ˈpika]) and púa ([ˈpua]) 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 57054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pica is recorded at frequency rank #10,902, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpika]. púa is at rank #46,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpua].

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 57054, this pair ranks #72,056 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pica vs púa

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pica": ci. Private to "púa": ú.

"pica" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "púa" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picaipca · pcia · piac · picca · ppica

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pica" and "púa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpika] versus [ˈpua]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pica" vs "púa" - which ranks higher?
"pica" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,902 in our Spanish list, against #46,152 for "púa". 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 "pica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "púa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,056 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pica" and "púa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs púa". 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 #72,056 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