parevspasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,289
“pare” frequency rank
#11,643
“pas” frequency rank
19932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pare pas
Definition Acción o efecto de parar. Paso.

Where the eye mixes pare and pas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pare
3 ch
pas

Why the eye confuses pare with pas

A purely visual mix-up. pare ([ˈpaɾe]) and pas ([ˈpas]) 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 19932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pare is recorded at frequency rank #8,289, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaɾe]. pas is at rank #11,643, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpas].

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 19932, this pair ranks #261,563 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pare vs pas

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pare": er. Private to "pas": s.

"pare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pareapre · paer · parre · ppare · prae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pare" and "pas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaɾe] versus [ˈpas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pare" vs "pas" - which ranks higher?
"pare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,289 in our Spanish list, against #11,643 for "pas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,563 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pare" and "pas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pas vs PRC". 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 #261,563 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