pidanvspisanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,837
“pidan” frequency rank
#35,687
“pisan” frequency rank
47524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pidan pisan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de pedir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pisar.

Where the eye mixes pidan and pisan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pidan and pisan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
pidan
5 ch
pisan

Look-alike desk: pidan vs pisan

A purely visual mix-up. pidan ([ˈpið̞ãn]) and pisan ([ˈpisãn]) 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 a single letter - d in “pidan” becomes s in “pisan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pidan is recorded at frequency rank #11,837, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpið̞ãn]. pisan is at rank #35,687, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpisãn].

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 47524, this pair ranks #119,560 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pidan vs pisan

Shared letters: ainp. Private to "pidan": d. Private to "pisan": s.

"pidan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pisan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pidan ← ipdan · pdian · piadn · pidann · piddan · pidna · ppidan
  • pisan ← ipsan · piasn · pisann · pisna · pissan · ppisan · psian

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pidan" for "pisan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpið̞ãn] versus [ˈpisãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pidan" or "pisan"?
"pidan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,837 in our Spanish list, against #35,687 for "pisan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pidan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pisan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #119,560 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pidan" and "pisan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pelan vs pisan". 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 #119,560 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