podridovsposeídoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,982
“podrido” frequency rank
#22,819
“poseído” frequency rank
36801
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature podrido poseído
Definition Echado a perder. El que tiene en su cuerpo los espíritus malignos.

Where the eye mixes podrido and poseído

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. podrido (CVCCVCV) and poseído (CVCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
podrido
7 ch
poseído

Why the eye confuses podrido with poseído

A purely visual mix-up. podrido ([poˈð̞ɾið̞o]) and poseído ([poseˈið̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

podrido is recorded at frequency rank #13,982, classified as anadj, pronounced [poˈð̞ɾið̞o]. poseído is at rank #22,819, tagged as anadj, pronounced [poseˈið̞o].

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 36801, this pair ranks #178,694 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of podrido vs poseído

Shared letters: dop. Private to "podrido": ir. Private to "poseído": esí.

"podrido" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "poseído" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • podrido ← opdrido · pdorido · poddrido · podirdo · podrdio · podriddo · podriod · podrrido

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "podrido" for "poseído" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([poˈð̞ɾið̞o] versus [poseˈið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "podrido" or "poseído"?
"podrido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,982 in our Spanish list, against #22,819 for "poseído". 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 "podrido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poseído" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,694 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "podrido" and "poseído" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "posado vs poseído". 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 #178,694 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