pintasvspistasConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,107
“pintas” frequency rank
#5,421
“pistas” frequency rank
26528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pintas pistas
Definition Cierto juego de naipes similar al juego llamado parar. Forma del plural de pista.

Where the eye mixes pintas and pistas

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

6 ch
pintas
6 ch
pistas

Visual trap between pintas and pistas

A purely visual mix-up. pintas ([ˈpĩn̪t̪as]) and pistas ([ˈpist̪as]) 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 - n in “pintas” becomes s in “pistas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pintas is recorded at frequency rank #21,107, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpĩn̪t̪as]. pistas is at rank #5,421, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpist̪as].

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 26528, this pair ranks #231,187 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pintas vs pistas

Shared letters: aipst. Private to "pintas": n. Private to "pistas": -.

"pintas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pistas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pintasipntas · pinats · pinntas · pintass · pintsa · pinttas · pitnas · pnitas
  • pistasipstas · pisats · pisstas · pistass · pistsa · pisttas · pitsas · ppistas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pintas" for "pistas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpĩn̪t̪as] versus [ˈpist̪as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pintas" or "pistas"?
"pistas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,421 in our Spanish list, against #21,107 for "pintas". 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 "pintas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pistas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #231,187 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pintas" and "pistas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pintas vs postas". 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 #231,187 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