Which to use
“policía” and “policías” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #436
- “policía” frequency rank
- #2,263
- “policías” frequency rank
- 2699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | policía | policías |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fuerza de seguridad encargada de imponer el orden en el interior de un Estado, de la investigación de los delitos y la persecución y captura de los imputados de los mismos. | Forma del plural de policía. |
Where the eye mixes policía and policías
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. policía runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against policías's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: policía vs policías
A purely visual mix-up. policía ([poliˈsia]) and policías ([poliˈsias]) 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 extra letter(s) - “policía” sits inside “policías”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
policía is recorded at frequency rank #436, classified as anoun, pronounced [poliˈsia]. policías is at rank #2,263, tagged as anoun, pronounced [poliˈsias].
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 2699, this pair ranks #319,830 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of policía vs policías
Shared letters: acilopí. Private to "policía": -. Private to "policías": s.
"policía" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "policías" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "policía" and "policías" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "policía" or "policías" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "policía" and "policías" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "policía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "policías" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,830 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "policía" and "policías" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "policías vs polillas". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #319,830 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.