parevspateoConfusable pair

Quick tell: pare is a noun, pateo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pare” is a noun and “pateo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,289
“pare” frequency rank
#46,713
“pateo” frequency rank
55002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pare pateo
Definition Acción o efecto de parar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de patear.

Where the eye mixes pare and pateo

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

4 ch
pare
5 ch
pateo

Why the eye confuses pare with pateo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pare is [ˈpaɾe] while pateo is [paˈt̪eo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55002, 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]. pateo is at rank #46,713, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈt̪eo].

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 55002, this pair ranks #80,821 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pare vs pateo

Shared letters: aep. Private to "pare": r. Private to "pateo": ot.

"pare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pateo" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pareapre · paer · parre · ppare · prae
  • pateoapteo · paeto · patoe · patteo · ppateo · ptaeo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pare" and "pateo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pare" is a noun and "pateo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pare" or "pateo" show up more?
"pare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,289 in our Spanish list, against #46,713 for "pateo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pateo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #80,821 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pare" and "pateo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pateo vs platero". 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 #80,821 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