pillanvspillenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,492
“pillan” frequency rank
#49,862
“pillen” frequency rank
81354
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pillan pillen
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pillar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de pillar.

Where the eye mixes pillan and pillen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pillan and pillen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
pillan
6 ch
pillen

Visual trap between pillan and pillen

A purely visual mix-up. pillan ([ˈpiʝãn]) and pillen ([ˈpiʝẽn]) 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 - a in “pillan” becomes e in “pillen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pillan is recorded at frequency rank #31,492, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpiʝãn]. pillen is at rank #49,862, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpiʝẽn].

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 81354, this pair ranks #10,511 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pillan vs pillen

Shared letters: ilnp. Private to "pillan": a. Private to "pillen": e.

"pillan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pillen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pillan ← ipllan · pilaln · pilan · pillann · pillna · plilan · ppillan
  • pillen ← ipllen · pileln · pilen · pillenn · pillne · plilen · ppillen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pillan" for "pillen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpiʝãn] versus [ˈpiʝẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pillan" vs "pillen" - which ranks higher?
"pillan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,492 in our Spanish list, against #49,862 for "pillen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "pillan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pillen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,511 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pillan" and "pillen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pillen vs pilón". 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 #10,511 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