pagaránvspagarlaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: pagarán is a verb, pagarla is a phrase, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pagarán” is a verb and “pagarla” is a phrase - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,419
“pagarán” frequency rank
#33,753
“pagarla” frequency rank
48172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagarán pagarla
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de pagar o de pagarse. Sufrir el culpable su condigno castigo o la venganza de que se hizo más o menos merecedor.

Where the eye mixes pagarán and pagarla

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pagarán (CVCVCVC) and pagarla (CVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
pagarán
7 ch
pagarla

Visual trap between pagarán and pagarla

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pagarán is [paɣ̞aˈɾãn] while pagarla is [paˈɣ̞aɾla]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs phrase), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagarán is recorded at frequency rank #14,419, classified as averb, pronounced [paɣ̞aˈɾãn]. pagarla is at rank #33,753, tagged as aphrase, pronounced [paˈɣ̞aɾla].

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 48172, this pair ranks #115,952 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pagarán vs pagarla

Shared letters: agpr. Private to "pagarán": ná. Private to "pagarla": l.

"pagarán" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "pagarla" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagarla ← apgarla · paagrla · pagalra · pagaral · pagarlla · pagarrla · paggarla · pagrala

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pagarán" for "pagarla" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pagarán" is a verb and "pagarla" a phrase, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pagarán" or "pagarla" show up more?
"pagarán" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,419 in our Spanish list, against #33,753 for "pagarla". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagarán" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pagarla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,952 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagarán" and "pagarla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pagana vs pagarla". 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 #115,952 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