pillovspillosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,643
“pillo” frequency rank
#47,324
“pillos” frequency rank
65967
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pillo pillos
Definition Se dice del pícaro que no tiene crianza ni buenos modales. Forma del plural de pillo₁.

Where the eye mixes pillo and pillos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pillo
6 ch
pillos

Look-alike desk: pillo vs pillos

A purely visual mix-up. pillo ([ˈpiʝo]) and pillos ([ˈpiʝos]) 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 extra letter(s) - “pillo” sits inside “pillos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pillo is recorded at frequency rank #18,643, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpiʝo]. pillos is at rank #47,324, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpiʝos].

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 65967, this pair ranks #41,137 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pillo vs pillos

Shared letters: ilop. Private to "pillo": -. Private to "pillos": s.

"pillo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pillos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pilloipllo · pilo · pilol · plilo · ppillo
  • pillosipllos · pilloss · pillso · pilols · pilos · plilos · ppillos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pillo" and "pillos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpiʝo] versus [ˈpiʝos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pillo" or "pillos"?
"pillo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,643 in our Spanish list, against #47,324 for "pillos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pillo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pillos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,137 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pillo" and "pillos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pillen vs pillos". 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 #41,137 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