pidióvspudoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,874
“pidió” frequency rank
#902
“pudo” frequency rank
2776
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pidió pudo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de pedir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de poder.

Where the eye mixes pidió and pudo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pidió
4 ch
pudo

Look-alike desk: pidió vs pudo

A purely visual mix-up. pidió ([piˈð̞jo]) and pudo ([ˈpuð̞o]) 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 2776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pidió is recorded at frequency rank #1,874, classified as averb, pronounced [piˈð̞jo]. pudo is at rank #902, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpuð̞o].

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 2776, this pair ranks #319,669 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pidió vs pudo

Shared letters: dp. Private to "pidió": . Private to "pudo": ou.

"pidió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "pudo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pudopduo · ppudo · puddo · puod · updo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pidió" for "pudo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([piˈð̞jo] versus [ˈpuð̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pidió" vs "pudo" - which ranks higher?
"pudo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #902 in our Spanish list, against #1,874 for "pidió". 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 "pidió" and "pudo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pidió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pudo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #319,669 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pidió" and "pudo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pidió vs pipi". 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 #319,669 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