pomadavsportadaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,279
“pomada” frequency rank
#3,648
“portada” frequency rank
36927
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pomada portada
Definition Preparado elaborado con grasa y diversas sustancias, utilizado como cosmético o medicamento de uso externo. Página de un libro donde, generalmente, aparecen el nombre del autor, el título del libro y la editorial.

Where the eye mixes pomada and portada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pomada runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against portada's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pomada
7 ch
portada

Visual trap between pomada and portada

A purely visual mix-up. pomada ([poˈmað̞a]) and portada ([poɾˈt̪að̞a]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pomada is recorded at frequency rank #33,279, classified as anoun, pronounced [poˈmað̞a]. portada is at rank #3,648, tagged as anoun, pronounced [poɾˈt̪að̞a].

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 36927, this pair ranks #178,047 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pomada vs portada

Shared letters: adop. Private to "pomada": m. Private to "portada": rt.

"pomada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "portada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pomada ← opmada · pmoada · poamda · pomaad · pomadda · pomdaa · pommada · ppomada
  • portada ← oprtada · poratda · porrtada · portaad · portadda · portdaa · porttada · potrada

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pomada" and "portada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([poˈmað̞a] versus [poɾˈt̪að̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pomada" vs "portada" - which ranks higher?
"portada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,648 in our Spanish list, against #33,279 for "pomada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pomada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "portada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,047 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pomada" and "portada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pomada vs Poveda". 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 #178,047 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