palmadavspasadaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,161
“palmada” frequency rank
#1,992
“pasada” frequency rank
45153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature palmada pasada
Definition Golpe que se da con la palma de la mano. Acción o efecto de pasar o de pasarse.

Where the eye mixes palmada and pasada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
palmada
6 ch
pasada

Look-alike desk: palmada vs pasada

A purely visual mix-up. palmada ([palˈmað̞a]) and pasada ([paˈsað̞a]) 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 45153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

palmada is recorded at frequency rank #43,161, classified as anoun, pronounced [palˈmað̞a]. pasada is at rank #1,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈsað̞a].

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 45153, this pair ranks #133,077 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of palmada vs pasada

Shared letters: adp. Private to "palmada": lm. Private to "pasada": s.

"palmada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "pasada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • palmadaaplmada · palamda · pallmada · palmaad · palmadda · palmdaa · palmmada · pamlada
  • pasadaapsada · paasda · pasaad · pasadda · pasdaa · passada · ppasada · psaada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "palmada" and "pasada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([palˈmað̞a] versus [paˈsað̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "palmada" or "pasada"?
"pasada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,992 in our Spanish list, against #43,161 for "palmada". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "palmada" and "pasada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "palmada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,077 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "palmada" and "pasada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "palmada vs palmadas". 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 #133,077 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