panvspatínTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,324
“pan” frequency rank
#46,109
“patín” frequency rank
47433
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pan patín
Definition Masa a base de harina y agua endurecida por cocción al horno. Petrel.

Where the eye mixes pan and patín

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

3 ch
pan
5 ch
patín

Look-alike desk: pan vs patín

A purely visual mix-up. pan ([ˈpãn]) and patín ([paˈt̪ĩn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pan is recorded at frequency rank #1,324, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpãn]. patín is at rank #46,109, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈt̪ĩn].

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 47433, this pair ranks #120,081 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pan vs patín

Shared letters: anp. Private to "pan": -. Private to "patín": .

"pan" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "patín" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pan" for "patín" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpãn] versus [paˈt̪ĩn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pan" or "patín"?
"pan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,324 in our Spanish list, against #46,109 for "patín". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patín" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,081 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pan" and "patín" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partían vs patín". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #120,081 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