pichónvspicoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,781
“pichón” frequency rank
#3,279
“pico” frequency rank
41060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pichón pico
Definition Pollo de la paloma casera. Estructura óseo-vascular que cubre la boca y nariz de las aves, adaptada a sus hábitos alimentarios.

Where the eye mixes pichón and pico

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pichón
4 ch
pico

Visual trap between pichón and pico

A purely visual mix-up. pichón ([piˈt͡ʃõn]) and pico ([ˈpiko]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pichón is recorded at frequency rank #37,781, classified as anoun, pronounced [piˈt͡ʃõn]. pico is at rank #3,279, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpiko].

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 41060, this pair ranks #155,714 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pichón vs pico

Shared letters: cip. Private to "pichón": hnó. Private to "pico": o.

"pichón" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pico" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picoipco · pcio · picco · pioc · ppico

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pichón" for "pico" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([piˈt͡ʃõn] versus [ˈpiko]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pichón" vs "pico" - which ranks higher?
"pico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,279 in our Spanish list, against #37,781 for "pichón". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pichón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,714 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pichón" and "pico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pichón vs pitón". 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 #155,714 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