pa'lvspaseWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: pa'l is a contraction, pase is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pa'l” is a contraction and “pase” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,838
“pa'l” frequency rank
#1,147
“pase” frequency rank
50985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pa'l pase
Definition Contracción de la preposición para y el artículo el. Acción o efecto de pasar (en sus diferentes acepciones).

Where the eye mixes pa'l and pase

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

4 ch
pa'l
4 ch
pase

Look-alike desk: pa'l vs pase

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pa'l is [ˈpal] while pase is [ˈpase]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pa'l is recorded at frequency rank #49,838, classified as acontraction, pronounced [ˈpal]. pase is at rank #1,147, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpase].

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 50985, this pair ranks #100,317 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pa'l vs pase

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pa'l": l. Private to "pase": es.

"pa'l" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paseapse · paes · passe · ppase · psae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pa'l" for "pase" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pa'l" is a contraction and "pase" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pa'l" or "pase"?
"pase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,147 in our Spanish list, against #49,838 for "pa'l". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pa'l" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #100,317 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pa'l" and "pase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pa'l vs pars". 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 #100,317 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