potovsputTell them apart

Quick tell: poto is a noun, put is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“poto” is a noun and “put” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,517
“poto” frequency rank
#22,832
“put” frequency rank
68349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poto put
Definition Conjunto de la musculatura de la parte anterior de la cadera. Tercera persona del singular (il, elle, on) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de pouvoir

Where the eye mixes poto and put

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
poto
3 ch
put

Why the eye confuses poto with put

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poto is [ˈpot̪o] while put is /py/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poto is recorded at frequency rank #45,517, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpot̪o]. put is at rank #22,832, tagged as averb, pronounced /py/.

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 68349, this pair ranks #34,731 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of poto vs put

Shared letters: pt. Private to "poto": o. Private to "put": u.

"poto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "put" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • potoopto · poot · potto · ppoto · ptoo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "poto" for "put" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "poto" is a noun and "put" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "poto" or "put" show up more?
"put" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,832 in our Spanish list, against #45,517 for "poto". 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 "poto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "put" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,731 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poto" and "put" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poto vs probo". 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 #34,731 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