Which to use
“pagan” and “pagar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,867
- “pagan” frequency rank
- #898
- “pagar” frequency rank
- 4765
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pagan | pagar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pagar o de pagarse. | Satisfacer lo que se debía. |
Where the eye mixes pagan and pagar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pagan and pagar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses pagan with pagar
A purely visual mix-up. pagan ([ˈpaɣ̞ãn]) and pagar ([paˈɣ̞aɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “pagan” becomes r in “pagar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pagan is recorded at frequency rank #3,867, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpaɣ̞ãn]. pagar is at rank #898, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈɣ̞aɾ].
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 4765, this pair ranks #315,303 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pagan vs pagar
Shared letters: agp. Private to "pagan": n. Private to "pagar": r.
"pagan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pagar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pagan" and "pagar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pagan" or "pagar"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pagan" and "pagar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pagan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pagar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,303 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pagan" and "pagar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pagan vs pelan". 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 #315,303 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.