pagadavspasadaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: pagada is a participle, pasada is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pagada” is a participle and “pasada” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,405
“pagada” frequency rank
#1,992
“pasada” frequency rank
18397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagada pasada
Definition Forma del femenino de pagado, participio de pagar o de pagarse. Acción o efecto de pasar o de pasarse.

Where the eye mixes pagada and pasada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pagada
6 ch
pasada

Look-alike desk: pagada vs pasada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pagada is [paˈɣ̞að̞a] while pasada is [paˈsað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “pagada” becomes s in “pasada”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagada is recorded at frequency rank #16,405, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [paˈɣ̞að̞a]. pasada is at rank #1,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈsað̞a].

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 18397, this pair ranks #268,092 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pagada vs pasada

Shared letters: adp. Private to "pagada": g. Private to "pasada": s.

"pagada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pasada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagadaapgada · paagda · pagaad · pagadda · pagdaa · paggada · pgaada · ppagada
  • pasadaapsada · paasda · pasaad · pasadda · pasdaa · passada · ppasada · psaada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pagada" and "pasada" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pagada" is a participle and "pasada" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pagada" vs "pasada" - which ranks higher?
"pasada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,992 in our Spanish list, against #16,405 for "pagada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "pagada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #268,092 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagada" and "pasada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pagada 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 #268,092 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