paganovspatánWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,550
“pagano” frequency rank
#39,908
“patán” frequency rank
66458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagano patán
Definition Propio de, relativo a o fiel de las religiones no judeocristianas. Falto de inteligencia y cultura.

Where the eye mixes pagano and patán

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pagano runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against patán's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pagano
5 ch
patán

Look-alike desk: pagano vs patán

A purely visual mix-up. pagano ([paˈɣ̞ano]) and patán ([paˈt̪ãn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagano is recorded at frequency rank #26,550, classified as anadj, pronounced [paˈɣ̞ano]. patán is at rank #39,908, tagged as anadj, pronounced [paˈt̪ãn].

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 66458, this pair ranks #39,833 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pagano vs patán

Shared letters: anp. Private to "pagano": go. Private to "patán": tá.

"pagano" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "patán" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagano ← apgano · paagno · paganno · pagaon · paggano · pagnao · pgaano · ppagano

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pagano" and "patán" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([paˈɣ̞ano] versus [paˈt̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pagano" or "patán"?
"pagano" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,550 in our Spanish list, against #39,908 for "patán". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagano" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patán" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,833 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagano" and "patán" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patán vs petar". 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 #39,833 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