Which to use
“paños” and “pasos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,556
- “paños” frequency rank
- #1,952
- “pasos” frequency rank
- 28508
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paños | pasos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cualquier género de vestiduras. | 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 paños and pasos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses paños with pasos
A purely visual mix-up. paños ([ˈpaɲos]) 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 differ by a single letter - ñ in “paños” becomes s in “pasos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paños is recorded at frequency rank #26,556, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaɲos]. 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 28508, this pair ranks #221,686 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paños vs pasos
Shared letters: aops. Private to "paños": ñ. Private to "pasos": -.
"paños" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pasos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pasos ← apsos · paoss · pasoss · passos · ppasos · psaos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paños" for "pasos" ever safe?
Which is more common, "paños" or "pasos"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "paños" 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 #221,686 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paños" and "pasos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pacos vs paños". 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 #221,686 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.