publicarvspúblicosWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,009
“publicar” frequency rank
#1,224
“públicos” frequency rank
4233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature publicar públicos
Definition Hacer notorio o patente, por medio de voz de pregonero o por otros medios, algo que se quiere hacer llegar a noticia de todos. Forma del plural de público.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set publicar and públicos apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
publicar
8 ch
públicos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: publicar is [puβ̞liˈkaɾ] while públicos is [ˈpuβ̞likos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

publicar is recorded at frequency rank #3,009, classified as averb, pronounced [puβ̞liˈkaɾ]. públicos is at rank #1,224, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpuβ̞likos].

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 4233, this pair ranks #316,563 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of publicar vs públicos

Shared letters: bcilp. Private to "publicar": aru. Private to "públicos": osú.

"publicar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "públicos" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • publicarpbulicar · ppublicar · pubblicar · pubilcar · publciar · publiacr · publicarr · publiccar

Frequency comparison

publicar#3,009
públicos#1,224

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "publicar" and "públicos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "publicar" is a verb and "públicos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "publicar" or "públicos"?
"públicos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,224 in our Spanish list, against #3,009 for "publicar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering publicar vs públicos

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “publicar”; for a noun, it's “públicos”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “publicar” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list