pulgarvspulgaresWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,773
“pulgar” frequency rank
#41,030
“pulgares” frequency rank
54803
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pulgar pulgares
Definition Dedo de la mano del ser humano con dos falanges que se opone a los demás para cerrar la mano. Forma del plural de pulgar.

Where the eye mixes pulgar and pulgares

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pulgar runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against pulgares's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pulgar
8 ch
pulgares

Look-alike desk: pulgar vs pulgares

A purely visual mix-up. pulgar ([pulˈɣ̞aɾ]) and pulgares ([pulˈɣ̞aɾes]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pulgar” sits inside “pulgares”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pulgar is recorded at frequency rank #13,773, classified as anoun, pronounced [pulˈɣ̞aɾ]. pulgares is at rank #41,030, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pulˈɣ̞aɾes].

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 54803, this pair ranks #81,739 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pulgar vs pulgares

Shared letters: aglpru. Private to "pulgar": -. Private to "pulgares": es.

"pulgar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pulgares" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pulgarplugar · ppulgar · puglar · pulagr · pulgarr · pulggar · pulgra · pullgar
  • pulgaresplugares · ppulgares · puglares · pulagres · pulgaers · pulgaress · pulgarres · pulgarse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pulgar" for "pulgares" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pulˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [pulˈɣ̞aɾes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pulgar" or "pulgares" show up more?
"pulgar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,773 in our Spanish list, against #41,030 for "pulgares". 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 "pulgar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pulgares" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,739 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pulgar" and "pulgares" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "polares vs pulgares". 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 #81,739 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