púavsputasWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: púa is a noun, putas is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“púa” is a noun and “putas” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,152
“púa” frequency rank
#3,354
“putas” frequency rank
49506
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature púa putas
Definition Cuerpo de forma acicular, flexible, con punta afilada. Forma del plural de puta.

Where the eye mixes púa and putas

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

3 ch
púa
5 ch
putas

Look-alike desk: púa vs putas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: púa is [ˈpua] while putas is [ˈput̪as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

púa is recorded at frequency rank #46,152, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpua]. putas is at rank #3,354, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈput̪as].

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 49506, this pair ranks #108,456 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of púa vs putas

Shared letters: ap. Private to "púa": ú. Private to "putas": stu.

"púa" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "putas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • putaspputas · ptuas · puats · putass · putsa · puttas · uptas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "púa" and "putas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "púa" is a noun and "putas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "púa" vs "putas" - which ranks higher?
"putas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,354 in our Spanish list, against #46,152 for "púa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "púa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "putas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,456 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "púa" and "putas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs púa". 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 #108,456 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