podarvsposarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,126
“podar” frequency rank
#26,563
“posar” frequency rank
72689
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature podar posar
Definition Cortar las ramas superfluas de los árboles. Alojarse u hospedarse en una posada o casa particular.

Where the eye mixes podar and posar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. podar and posar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
podar
5 ch
posar

Why the eye confuses podar with posar

A purely visual mix-up. podar ([poˈð̞aɾ]) and posar ([poˈsaɾ]) 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 - d in “podar” becomes s in “posar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

podar is recorded at frequency rank #46,126, classified as averb, pronounced [poˈð̞aɾ]. posar is at rank #26,563, tagged as averb, pronounced [poˈsaɾ].

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 72689, this pair ranks #24,849 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of podar vs posar

Shared letters: aopr. Private to "podar": d. Private to "posar": s.

"podar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "posar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • podar ← opdar · pdoar · poadr · podarr · poddar · podra · ppodar
  • posar ← opsar · poasr · posarr · posra · possar · pposar · psoar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "podar" for "posar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([poˈð̞aɾ] versus [poˈsaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "podar" or "posar"?
"posar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,563 in our Spanish list, against #46,126 for "podar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "podar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "posar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,849 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "podar" and "posar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "petar vs podar". 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 #24,849 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