pagasvspaísConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#9,336
“pagas” frequency rank
#133
“país” frequency rank
9469
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagas país
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de pagar o de pagarse. Comunidad humana numerosa, organizada en un territorio, para defender su interés común frente a otras comunidades del mismo tipo.

Where the eye mixes pagas and país

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

5 ch
pagas
4 ch
país

Visual trap between pagas and país

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pagas is [ˈpaɣ̞as] while país is [paˈis]. 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 9469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagas is recorded at frequency rank #9,336, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpaɣ̞as]. país is at rank #133, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈis].

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 9469, this pair ranks #301,843 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pagas vs país

Shared letters: aps. Private to "pagas": g. Private to "país": í.

"pagas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "país" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagasapgas · paags · pagass · paggas · pagsa · pgaas · ppagas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pagas" and "país" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pagas" is a verb and "país" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pagas" or "país"?
"país" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #133 in our Spanish list, against #9,336 for "pagas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "país" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,843 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagas" and "país" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paganas vs pagas". 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 #301,843 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