parabavspasabanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,339
“paraba” frequency rank
#9,014
“pasaban” frequency rank
27353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paraba pasaban
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de parar o de pararse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de pasar.

Where the eye mixes paraba and pasaban

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

6 ch
paraba
7 ch
pasaban

Visual trap between paraba and pasaban

A purely visual mix-up. paraba ([paˈɾaβ̞a]) and pasaban ([paˈsaβ̞ãn]) 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 27353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paraba is recorded at frequency rank #18,339, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈɾaβ̞a]. pasaban is at rank #9,014, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈsaβ̞ãn].

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 27353, this pair ranks #227,233 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paraba vs pasaban

Shared letters: abp. Private to "paraba": r. Private to "pasaban": ns.

"paraba" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pasaban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parabaapraba · paarba · paraab · parabba · parava · parbaa · parraba · pparaba
  • pasabanapsaban · paasban · pasaabn · pasabann · pasabban · pasabna · pasavan · pasbaan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "paraba" for "pasaban" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈɾaβ̞a] versus [paˈsaβ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "paraba" or "pasaban" show up more?
"pasaban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,014 in our Spanish list, against #18,339 for "paraba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "paraba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasaban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #227,233 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paraba" and "pasaban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paraba vs parca". 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 #227,233 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