piojovspipoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: piojo is a noun, pipo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“piojo” is a noun and “pipo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,804
“piojo” frequency rank
#44,375
“pipo” frequency rank
77179
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature piojo pipo
Definition (orden Phthiraptera) Cualquiera de más de 3000 especies de insectos ápteros adaptados para parasitar virtualmente todas las especies de mamíferos y aves, cuya sangre consumen, alojándose en el cabello del cuerpo y la cabeza. Su cuerpo está diseñado para este hábitat, con el primer par de patas modificado para permitir la sujeción al cabello. Son extremadamente fértiles, depositando las hembras hasta unos 200 huevos en los 30 días de su vida adulta. Tienen el cuerpo aplanado y de color oscuro o pardoamarillento. La infestación con piojos se denomina pediculosis, y provoca comezón, además de funcionar como vector para otras enfermedades —en particular el tifus— y provocar anemia en casos agudos. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de pipar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set piojo and pipo apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
piojo
4 ch
pipo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: piojo is [ˈpjoxo] while pipo is [ˈpipo]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

piojo is recorded at frequency rank #32,804, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpjoxo]. pipo is at rank #44,375, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpipo].

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 77179, this pair ranks #16,449 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of piojo vs pipo

Shared letters: iop. Private to "piojo": j. Private to "pipo": -.

"piojo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "pipo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • piojoipojo · pijoo · piojjo · piooj · poijo · ppiojo
  • pipoippo · piop · pippo · ppio · ppipo

Frequency comparison

piojo#32,804
pipo#44,375

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "piojo" and "pipo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "piojo" is a noun and "pipo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "piojo" or "pipo"?
"piojo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,804 in our Spanish list, against #44,375 for "pipo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering piojo vs pipo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “piojo”; for a verb, it's “pipo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “piojo” 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