pistavspostaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,414
“pista” frequency rank
#5,345
“posta” frequency rank
7759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pista posta
Definition Rastro de los animales o personas al ir de un lugar a otro. Grupo de caballos que se ubicaba en determinados lugares de los caminos para el relevo de los correos o de las diligencias en sus viajes.

Where the eye mixes pista and posta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pista
5 ch
posta

Visual trap between pista and posta

A purely visual mix-up. pista ([ˈpist̪a]) and posta ([ˈpost̪a]) 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 - i in “pista” becomes o in “posta”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pista is recorded at frequency rank #2,414, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpist̪a]. posta is at rank #5,345, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpost̪a].

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 7759, this pair ranks #307,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pista vs posta

Shared letters: apst. Private to "pista": i. Private to "posta": o.

"pista" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "posta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pistaipsta · pisat · pissta · pistta · pitsa · ppista · psita
  • postaopsta · posat · possta · postta · potsa · pposta · psota

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pista" for "posta" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpist̪a] versus [ˈpost̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pista" or "posta" show up more?
"pista" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,414 in our Spanish list, against #5,345 for "posta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pista" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "posta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #307,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pista" and "posta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "posta 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 #307,016 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