pagarvspataWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: pagar is a verb, pata is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pagar” is a verb and “pata” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#898
“pagar” frequency rank
#5,869
“pata” frequency rank
6767
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagar pata
Definition Satisfacer lo que se debía. Extremidad de los animales utilizada para la locomoción en tierra, que va en número de un único par en las aves y los primates hasta unos 200 pares en los miriápodos de la clase Diplopoda. Funcionalmente similar, es sin embargo evolutivamente muy diferente entre invertebrados y vertebrados. En estos últimos está por lo general dividida claramente en dos secciones, articuladas en la rodilla.

Where the eye mixes pagar and pata

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pagar
4 ch
pata

Visual trap between pagar and pata

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pagar is [paˈɣ̞aɾ] while pata is [ˈpat̪a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagar is recorded at frequency rank #898, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈɣ̞aɾ]. pata is at rank #5,869, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪a].

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 6767, this pair ranks #309,852 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pagar vs pata

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pagar": gr. Private to "pata": t.

"pagar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagarapgar · paagr · pagarr · paggar · pagra · pgaar · ppagar
  • patapaat · patta · ppata · ptaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pagar" and "pata" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pagar" is a verb and "pata" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pagar" vs "pata" - which ranks higher?
"pagar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #898 in our Spanish list, against #5,869 for "pata". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #309,852 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagar" and "pata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pata 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 #309,852 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