pigvspubTell them apart

Which to use

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

#36,747
“pig” frequency rank
#13,993
“pub” frequency rank
50740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pig pub
Definition Cerdo, chancho, puerco. Local en que se sirven bebidas y más raramente comidas ligeras, normalmente con decoración a la británica, música ambiental y horarios nocturnos.

Where the eye mixes pig and pub

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
pig
3 ch
pub

Look-alike desk: pig vs pub

A purely visual mix-up. pig (/pɪɡ/) and pub ([ˈpuβ̞]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pig is recorded at frequency rank #36,747, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɪɡ/. pub is at rank #13,993, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpuβ̞].

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 50740, this pair ranks #101,598 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pig vs pub

Shared letters: p. Private to "pig": gi. Private to "pub": bu.

"pig" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pub" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pig" for "pub" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/pɪɡ/ versus [ˈpuβ̞]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pig" or "pub" show up more?
"pub" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,993 in our Spanish list, against #36,747 for "pig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pub" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #101,598 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pig" and "pub" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pig vs PRC". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #101,598 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