pagabanvspagaronTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,925
“pagaban” frequency rank
#11,638
“pagaron” frequency rank
30563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagaban pagaron
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de pagar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de pagar o de pagarse.

Where the eye mixes pagaban and pagaron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pagaban and pagaron follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
pagaban
7 ch
pagaron

Look-alike desk: pagaban vs pagaron

A purely visual mix-up. pagaban ([paˈɣ̞aβ̞ãn]) and pagaron ([paˈɣ̞aɾõn]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagaban is recorded at frequency rank #18,925, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈɣ̞aβ̞ãn]. pagaron is at rank #11,638, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈɣ̞aɾõn].

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 30563, this pair ranks #211,388 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pagaban vs pagaron

Shared letters: agnp. Private to "pagaban": b. Private to "pagaron": or.

"pagaban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "pagaron" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagaban ← apgaban · paagban · pagaabn · pagabann · pagabban · pagabna · pagavan · pagbaan
  • pagaron ← apgaron · paagron · pagaorn · pagarno · pagaronn · pagarron · paggaron · pagraon

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pagaban" and "pagaron" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([paˈɣ̞aβ̞ãn] versus [paˈɣ̞aɾõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pagaban" or "pagaron" show up more?
"pagaron" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,638 in our Spanish list, against #18,925 for "pagaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "pagaban" and "pagaron" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pagaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #211,388 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagaban" and "pagaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pagaban vs paganas". 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 #211,388 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