picadasvspícaraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,684
“picadas” frequency rank
#46,151
“pícara” frequency rank
81835
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature picadas pícara
Definition Forma del femenino plural de picado. Forma del femenino singular de pícaro.

Where the eye mixes picadas and pícara

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
picadas
6 ch
pícara

Visual trap between picadas and pícara

A purely visual mix-up. picadas ([piˈkað̞as]) and pícara ([ˈpikaɾa]) 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 81835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

picadas is recorded at frequency rank #35,684, classified as anadj, pronounced [piˈkað̞as]. pícara is at rank #46,151, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpikaɾa].

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 81835, this pair ranks #9,927 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of picadas vs pícara

Shared letters: acp. Private to "picadas": dis. Private to "pícara": .

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picadasipcadas · pciadas · piacdas · picaads · picadass · picaddas · picadsa · piccadas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "picadas" for "pícara" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([piˈkað̞as] versus [ˈpikaɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "picadas" or "pícara"?
"picadas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,684 in our Spanish list, against #46,151 for "pícara". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "picadas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pícara" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,927 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "picadas" and "pícara" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pícara vs pisada". 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 #9,927 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