paganavspatadaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#37,245
“pagana” frequency rank
#8,563
“patada” frequency rank
45808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagana patada
Definition Pieza de madera de roble de treinta pies de longitud y con una escuadría de doce pulgadas de tabla por diez de canto. Golpe dado con el pie o la pata.

Where the eye mixes pagana and patada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pagana and patada follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
pagana
6 ch
patada

Visual trap between pagana and patada

A purely visual mix-up. pagana ([paˈɣ̞ana]) and patada ([paˈt̪að̞a]) 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 45808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagana is recorded at frequency rank #37,245, classified as anoun, pronounced [paˈɣ̞ana]. patada is at rank #8,563, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈt̪að̞a].

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 45808, this pair ranks #129,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pagana vs patada

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pagana": gn. Private to "patada": dt.

"pagana" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "patada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagana ← apgana · paagna · pagaan · paganna · paggana · pagnaa · pgaana · ppagana
  • patada ← aptada · paatda · pataad · patadda · patdaa · pattada · ppatada · ptaada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pagana" and "patada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([paˈɣ̞ana] versus [paˈt̪að̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pagana" vs "patada" - which ranks higher?
"patada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,563 in our Spanish list, against #37,245 for "pagana". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagana" and "patada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pagana 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 #129,338 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