pinchovspinchosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,686
“pincho” frequency rank
#47,326
“pinchos” frequency rank
83012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pincho pinchos
Definition Espina de las plantas, principalmente de los cactus. Forma del plural de pincho.

Where the eye mixes pincho and pinchos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pincho runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against pinchos's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pincho
7 ch
pinchos

Visual trap between pincho and pinchos

A purely visual mix-up. pincho ([ˈpĩnʲt͡ʃo]) and pinchos ([ˈpĩnʲt͡ʃos]) 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) - “pincho” sits inside “pinchos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pincho is recorded at frequency rank #35,686, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpĩnʲt͡ʃo]. pinchos is at rank #47,326, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpĩnʲt͡ʃos].

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 83012, this pair ranks #8,600 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pincho vs pinchos

Shared letters: chinop. Private to "pincho": -. Private to "pinchos": s.

"pincho" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "pinchos" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pincho ← ipncho · picnho · pinccho · pinchho · pincoh · pinhco · pinncho · pnicho
  • pinchos ← ipnchos · picnhos · pincchos · pinchhos · pinchoss · pinchso · pincohs · pinhcos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pincho" and "pinchos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpĩnʲt͡ʃo] versus [ˈpĩnʲt͡ʃos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pincho" or "pinchos"?
"pincho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,686 in our Spanish list, against #47,326 for "pinchos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pincho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pinchos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,600 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pincho" and "pinchos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "panchos vs pinchos". 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 #8,600 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