picosvsprimosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,024
“picos” frequency rank
#7,904
“primos” frequency rank
19928
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature picos primos
Definition Forma del plural de pico. Forma del plural de primo.

Where the eye mixes picos and primos

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

5 ch
picos
6 ch
primos

Why the eye confuses picos with primos

A purely visual mix-up. picos ([ˈpikos]) and primos ([ˈpɾimos]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

picos is recorded at frequency rank #12,024, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpikos]. primos is at rank #7,904, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɾimos].

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 19928, this pair ranks #261,585 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of picos vs primos

Shared letters: iops. Private to "picos": c. Private to "primos": mr.

"picos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "primos" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picosipcos · pcios · piccos · picoss · picso · piocs · ppicos
  • primospirmos · pprimos · primmos · primoss · primso · prioms · prmios · prrimos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "picos" for "primos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpikos] versus [ˈpɾimos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "picos" or "primos" show up more?
"primos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,904 in our Spanish list, against #12,024 for "picos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "picos" and "primos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "picos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "primos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,585 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "picos" and "primos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "picados vs picos". 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 #261,585 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