pulmónvspulsosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,202
“pulmón” frequency rank
#36,777
“pulsos” frequency rank
46979
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pulmón pulsos
Definition Órgano par, los más importantes del aparato respiratorio, con aspecto de cono, formados por un tejido esponjoso de color rosa grisáceo. Ocupan la mayor parte del tórax. Forma del plural de pulso.

Where the eye mixes pulmón and pulsos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pulmón and pulsos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
pulmón
6 ch
pulsos

Why the eye confuses pulmón with pulsos

A purely visual mix-up. pulmón ([pulˈmõn]) and pulsos ([ˈpulsos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pulmón is recorded at frequency rank #10,202, classified as anoun, pronounced [pulˈmõn]. pulsos is at rank #36,777, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpulsos].

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 46979, this pair ranks #122,668 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pulmón vs pulsos

Shared letters: lpu. Private to "pulmón": mnó. Private to "pulsos": os.

"pulmón" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pulsos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pulsos ← plusos · ppulsos · pullsos · puloss · pulsoss · pulssos · puslos · uplsos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pulmón" for "pulsos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pulˈmõn] versus [ˈpulsos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pulmón" or "pulsos"?
"pulmón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,202 in our Spanish list, against #36,777 for "pulsos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pulmón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pulsos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,668 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pulmón" and "pulsos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pillos vs pulsos". 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 #122,668 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