pievspisConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,022
“pie” frequency rank
#19,527
“pis” frequency rank
20549
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pie pis
Definition Miembro del cuerpo que se encuentra al final de las piernas y debajo del tobillo. Secreción líquida de los riñones, conducida a la vejiga por los uréteres y expelida por la uretra.

Where the eye mixes pie and pis

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

3 ch
pie
3 ch
pis

Why the eye confuses pie with pis

A purely visual mix-up. pie ([ˈpje]) and pis ([ˈpis]) 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 - e in “pie” becomes s in “pis”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pie is recorded at frequency rank #1,022, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpje]. pis is at rank #19,527, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpis].

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 20549, this pair ranks #258,848 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pie vs pis

Shared letters: ip. Private to "pie": e. Private to "pis": s.

"pie" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "pis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pie" and "pis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpje] versus [ˈpis]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pie" or "pis" show up more?
"pie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,022 in our Spanish list, against #19,527 for "pis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #258,848 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pie" and "pis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pis vs PRC". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #258,848 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