Which to use
“pica” is an adjective and “picada” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,962
- “pica” frequency rank
- #14,207
- “picada” frequency rank
- 22169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pica | picada |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | excelente, de grande qualidade | golpe dado com pico |
Where the eye mixes pica and picada
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pica runs 4 letters (CVCV) against picada's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pica vs picada
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pica is /ˈpi.kɐ/ while picada is /pi.ˈka.dɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “pica” sits inside “picada”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pica is recorded at frequency rank #7,962, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpi.kɐ/. picada is at rank #14,207, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈka.dɐ/.
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 22169, this pair ranks #47,933 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pica vs picada
Shared letters: acip. Private to "pica": -. Private to "picada": d.
"pica" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "picada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pica" and "picada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pica" vs "picada" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pica" and "picada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "picada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,933 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pica" and "picada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pescada vs picada". 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 #47,933 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.