picadavspicadasConfusable pair

Quick tell: picada is a noun, picadas is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“picada” is a noun and “picadas” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,914
“picada” frequency rank
#35,684
“picadas” frequency rank
50598
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature picada picadas
Definition Senda estrecha en los montes, y especialmente el paso en los arroyos por donde sólo se puede cruzar a caballo. Forma del femenino plural de picado.

Where the eye mixes picada and picadas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
picada
7 ch
picadas

Why the eye confuses picada with picadas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: picada is [piˈkað̞a] while picadas is [piˈkað̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “picada” sits inside “picadas”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

picada is recorded at frequency rank #14,914, classified as anoun, pronounced [piˈkað̞a]. picadas is at rank #35,684, tagged as anadj, pronounced [piˈkað̞as].

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 50598, this pair ranks #102,348 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of picada vs picadas

Shared letters: acdip. Private to "picada": -. Private to "picadas": s.

"picada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "picadas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picadaipcada · pciada · piacda · picaad · picadda · piccada · picdaa · ppicada
  • picadasipcadas · pciadas · piacdas · picaads · picadass · picaddas · picadsa · piccadas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "picada" for "picadas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "picada" is a noun and "picadas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "picada" or "picadas"?
"picada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,914 in our Spanish list, against #35,684 for "picadas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "picada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "picadas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,348 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "picada" and "picadas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peladas vs picadas". 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 #102,348 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