pararávspasarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,729
“parará” frequency rank
#381
“pasar” frequency rank
37110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parará pasar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de parar o de pararse. Llevar de un lugar a otro.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set parará and pasar apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
parará
5 ch
pasar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. parará ([paɾaˈɾa]) and pasar ([paˈsaɾ]) 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 37110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parará is recorded at frequency rank #36,729, classified as averb, pronounced [paɾaˈɾa]. pasar is at rank #381, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈsaɾ].

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 37110, this pair ranks #177,052 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of parará vs pasar

Shared letters: apr. Private to "parará": á. Private to "pasar": s.

"parará" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pasar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasarapsar · paasr · pasarr · pasra · passar · ppasar · psaar

Frequency comparison

parará#36,729
pasar#381

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parará" and "pasar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([paɾaˈɾa] versus [paˈsaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "parará" or "pasar"?
"pasar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #381 in our Spanish list, against #36,729 for "parará". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering parará vs pasar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “parará” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list