pagarsevspegarseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,588
“pagarse” frequency rank
#35,673
“pegarse” frequency rank
60261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagarse pegarse
Definition Prendarse de sí mismo. Pegar (uso pronominal de ...)

Where the eye mixes pagarse and pegarse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pagarse and pegarse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
pagarse
7 ch
pegarse

Visual trap between pagarse and pegarse

A purely visual mix-up. pagarse ([paˈɣ̞aɾse]) and pegarse ([peˈɣ̞aɾse]) 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 a single letter - a in “pagarse” becomes e in “pegarse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagarse is recorded at frequency rank #24,588, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈɣ̞aɾse]. pegarse is at rank #35,673, tagged as averb, pronounced [peˈɣ̞aɾse].

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 60261, this pair ranks #59,564 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pagarse vs pegarse

Shared letters: aegprs. Private to "pagarse": -. Private to "pegarse": -.

"pagarse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "pegarse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagarse ← apgarse · paagrse · pagarce · pagares · pagarrse · pagarsse · pagasre · paggarse
  • pegarse ← epgarse · peagrse · pegarce · pegares · pegarrse · pegarsse · pegasre · peggarse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pagarse" for "pegarse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈɣ̞aɾse] versus [peˈɣ̞aɾse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pagarse" vs "pegarse" - which ranks higher?
"pagarse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,588 in our Spanish list, against #35,673 for "pegarse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagarse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pegarse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,564 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagarse" and "pegarse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pegarse vs pegaste". 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 #59,564 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