picarvspisasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,348
“picar” frequency rank
#42,076
“pisas” frequency rank
60424
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature picar pisas
Definition Golpear algo con una punta, agujereándolo o no. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de pisar.

Where the eye mixes picar and pisas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. picar and pisas follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
picar
5 ch
pisas

Visual trap between picar and pisas

A purely visual mix-up. picar ([piˈkaɾ]) and pisas ([ˈpisas]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

picar is recorded at frequency rank #18,348, classified as averb, pronounced [piˈkaɾ]. pisas is at rank #42,076, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpisas].

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 60424, this pair ranks #59,005 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of picar vs pisas

Shared letters: aip. Private to "picar": cr. Private to "pisas": s.

"picar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pisas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picar ← ipcar · pciar · piacr · picarr · piccar · picra · ppicar
  • pisas ← ipsas · piass · pisass · pissas · ppisas · psias

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "picar" and "pisas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([piˈkaɾ] versus [ˈpisas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "picar" vs "pisas" - which ranks higher?
"picar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,348 in our Spanish list, against #42,076 for "pisas". 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 "picar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pisas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,005 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "picar" and "pisas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pisas vs postas". 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 #59,005 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