panesvspasosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,407
“panes” frequency rank
#1,952
“pasos” frequency rank
18359
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature panes pasos
Definition Forma del plural de pan. En algunos deportes, en especial el baloncesto y el balonmano, falta que consiste en dar más de tres pasos con la pelota en la mano sin botarla.

Where the eye mixes panes and pasos

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

5 ch
panes
5 ch
pasos

Visual trap between panes and pasos

A purely visual mix-up. panes ([ˈpanes]) and pasos ([ˈpasos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18359, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

panes is recorded at frequency rank #16,407, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpanes]. pasos is at rank #1,952, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasos].

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 18359, this pair ranks #268,242 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of panes vs pasos

Shared letters: aps. Private to "panes": en. Private to "pasos": o.

"panes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pasos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • panesapnes · paens · paness · pannes · panse · pnaes · ppanes
  • pasosapsos · paoss · pasoss · passos · ppasos · psaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "panes" and "pasos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpanes] versus [ˈpasos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "panes" or "pasos" show up more?
"pasos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,952 in our Spanish list, against #16,407 for "panes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "panes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #268,242 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "panes" and "pasos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "panes vs peines". 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 #268,242 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