picadovspicazónConfusable pair

Quick tell: picado is a adjective, picazón is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#12,669
“picado” frequency rank
#47,322
“picazón” frequency rank
59991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature picado picazón
Definition Epíteto del patrón que se hace con picaduras para señalar un dibujo. Comezón o escozor en alguna parte del cuerpo.

Where the eye mixes picado and picazón

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

6 ch
picado
7 ch
picazón

Visual trap between picado and picazón

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: picado is [piˈkað̞o] while picazón is [pikaˈsõn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

picado is recorded at frequency rank #12,669, classified as anadj, pronounced [piˈkað̞o]. picazón is at rank #47,322, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pikaˈsõn].

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 59991, this pair ranks #60,542 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of picado vs picazón

Shared letters: acip. Private to "picado": do. Private to "picazón": nzó.

"picado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "picazón" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picadoipcado · pciado · piacdo · picaddo · picaod · piccado · picdao · ppicado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "picado" and "picazón" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "picado" is an adjective and "picazón" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "picado" vs "picazón" - which ranks higher?
"picado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,669 in our Spanish list, against #47,322 for "picazón". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "picado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "picazón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,542 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "picado" and "picazón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "picados vs picazón". 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 #60,542 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