pidevspiresConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,523
“pide” frequency rank
#47,328
“pires” frequency rank
48851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pide pires
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pedir. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de pirar o de pirarse.

Where the eye mixes pide and pires

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

4 ch
pide
5 ch
pires

Why the eye confuses pide with pires

A purely visual mix-up. pide ([ˈpið̞e]) and pires ([ˈpiɾes]) 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 48851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pide is recorded at frequency rank #1,523, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpið̞e]. pires is at rank #47,328, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpiɾes].

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 48851, this pair ranks #112,160 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pide vs pires

Shared letters: eip. Private to "pide": d. Private to "pires": rs.

"pide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pires" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pideipde · pdie · pidde · pied · ppide
  • piresipres · piers · piress · pirres · pirse · ppires · pries

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pide" and "pires" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpið̞e] versus [ˈpiɾes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pide" or "pires"?
"pide" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,523 in our Spanish list, against #47,328 for "pires". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #112,160 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pide" and "pires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pires vs prey". 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 #112,160 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