Which to use
“picado” is an adjective and “pisada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,669
- “picado” frequency rank
- #46,123
- “pisada” frequency rank
- 58792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | picado | pisada |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Epíteto del patrón que se hace con picaduras para señalar un dibujo. | Forma del femenino de pisado, participio de pisar. |
Where the eye mixes picado and pisada
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. picado and pisada follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between picado and pisada
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: picado is [piˈkað̞o] while pisada is [piˈsað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58792, 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]. pisada is at rank #46,123, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [piˈsað̞a].
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 58792, this pair ranks #65,126 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of picado vs pisada
Shared letters: adip. Private to "picado": co. Private to "pisada": s.
"picado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "pisada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "picado" and "pisada" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "picado" vs "pisada" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "picado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pisada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,126 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "picado" and "pisada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pisada vs posado". 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 #65,126 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.