piquevspóquerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,238
“pique” frequency rank
#35,711
“póquer” frequency rank
52949
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pique póquer
Definition Resentimiento, desazón o disgusto ocasionado de una disputa u otra cosa semejante. Juego de cartas que consiste en combinar de diversas formas cinco cartas del mismo valor o del mismo color; gana la partida el jugador que obtiene la combinación de más valor

Where the eye mixes pique and póquer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pique runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against póquer's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
pique
6 ch
póquer

Why the eye confuses pique with póquer

A purely visual mix-up. pique ([ˈpike]) and póquer ([ˈpokeɾ]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pique is recorded at frequency rank #17,238, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpike]. póquer is at rank #35,711, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpokeɾ].

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 52949, this pair ranks #90,286 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pique vs póquer

Shared letters: epqu. Private to "pique": i. Private to "póquer": ró.

"pique" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "póquer" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pique ← ipque · piqeu · piqque · piuqe · ppique · pqiue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pique" for "póquer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpike] versus [ˈpokeɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pique" vs "póquer" - which ranks higher?
"pique" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,238 in our Spanish list, against #35,711 for "póquer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "póquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #90,286 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pique" and "póquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peques vs póquer". 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 #90,286 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