paganvspararWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,867
“pagan” frequency rank
#2,259
“parar” frequency rank
6126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagan parar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pagar o de pagarse. Detener; evitar el avance, el movimiento o la acción de algo o de alguien.

Where the eye mixes pagan and parar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pagan and parar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
pagan
5 ch
parar

Visual trap between pagan and parar

A purely visual mix-up. pagan ([ˈpaɣ̞ãn]) and parar ([paˈɾaɾ]) 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 6126, 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]. parar is at rank #2,259, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈɾaɾ].

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 6126, this pair ranks #311,680 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pagan vs parar

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pagan": gn. Private to "parar": r.

"pagan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "parar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagan ← apgan · paagn · pagann · paggan · pagna · pgaan · ppagan
  • parar ← aprar · paarr · pararr · parrar · pparar · praar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pagan" for "parar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaɣ̞ãn] versus [paˈɾaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pagan" vs "parar" - which ranks higher?
"parar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,259 in our Spanish list, against #3,867 for "pagan". 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 "pagan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "parar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #311,680 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagan" and "parar" 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 #311,680 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