picanvspichiWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pican is a verb, pichi is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pican” is a verb and “pichi” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,333
“pican” frequency rank
#43,773
“pichi” frequency rank
76106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pican pichi
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de picar o de picarse. Persona que se inicia en el aprendizaje de una disciplina o profesión.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pican and pichi apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pican
5 ch
pichi

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pican is [ˈpikãn] while pichi is [ˈpit͡ʃi]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pican is recorded at frequency rank #32,333, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpikãn]. pichi is at rank #43,773, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpit͡ʃi].

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 76106, this pair ranks #18,323 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pican vs pichi

Shared letters: cip. Private to "pican": an. Private to "pichi": h.

"pican" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pichi" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picanipcan · pcian · piacn · picann · piccan · picna · ppican
  • pichiipchi · pcihi · picchi · pichhi · picih · pihci · ppichi

Frequency comparison

pican#32,333
pichi#43,773

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pican" and "pichi" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pican" is a verb and "pichi" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pican" or "pichi"?
"pican" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,333 in our Spanish list, against #43,773 for "pichi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pican vs pichi

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “pican”; for an adjective, it's “pichi”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pican” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list