piresvspitosConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#47,328
“pires” frequency rank
#31,493
“pitos” frequency rank
78821
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pires pitos
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de pirar o de pirarse. Forma del plural de pito.

Where the eye mixes pires and pitos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pires
5 ch
pitos

Look-alike desk: pires vs pitos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pires is [ˈpiɾes] while pitos is [ˈpit̪os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pires is recorded at frequency rank #47,328, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpiɾes]. pitos is at rank #31,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpit̪os].

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 78821, this pair ranks #13,896 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pires vs pitos

Shared letters: ips. Private to "pires": er. Private to "pitos": ot.

"pires" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pitos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • piresipres · piers · piress · pirres · pirse · ppires · pries
  • pitosiptos · piots · pitoss · pitso · pittos · ppitos · ptios

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pires" and "pitos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pires" is a verb and "pitos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pires" or "pitos" show up more?
"pitos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,493 in our Spanish list, against #47,328 for "pires". 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 "pires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pitos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,896 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pires" and "pitos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pires vs prey". 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 #13,896 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