pintanvspintoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pintan is a verb, pinto is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pintan” is a verb and “pinto” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,672
“pintan” frequency rank
#8,567
“pinto” frequency rank
25239
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pintan pinto
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pintar. Dicho del pelaje del yeguarizo, de diversos colores o con una mancha pequeña.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pintan and pinto apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
pintan
5 ch
pinto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pintan is [ˈpĩn̪t̪ãn] while pinto is [ˈpĩn̪t̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25239, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pintan is recorded at frequency rank #16,672, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpĩn̪t̪ãn]. pinto is at rank #8,567, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpĩn̪t̪o].

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 25239, this pair ranks #237,364 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pintan vs pinto

Shared letters: inpt. Private to "pintan": a. Private to "pinto": o.

"pintan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pinto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pintanipntan · pinatn · pinntan · pintann · pintna · pinttan · pitnan · pnitan
  • pintoipnto · pinnto · pinot · pintto · pitno · pnito · ppinto

Frequency comparison

pintan#16,672
pinto#8,567

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pintan" and "pinto" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pintan" is a verb and "pinto" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pintan" or "pinto"?
"pinto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,567 in our Spanish list, against #16,672 for "pintan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pintan vs pinto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “pintan”; for an adjective, it's “pinto”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pintan” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list