parenvspasenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,039
“paren” frequency rank
#4,817
“pasen” frequency rank
14856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paren pasen
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de parar o de pararse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de pasar.

Where the eye mixes paren and pasen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
paren
5 ch
pasen

Visual trap between paren and pasen

A purely visual mix-up. paren ([ˈpaɾẽn]) and pasen ([ˈpasẽn]) 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 - r in “paren” becomes s in “pasen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paren is recorded at frequency rank #10,039, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpaɾẽn]. pasen is at rank #4,817, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpasẽn].

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 14856, this pair ranks #282,474 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of paren vs pasen

Shared letters: aenp. Private to "paren": r. Private to "pasen": s.

"paren" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pasen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parenapren · paern · parenn · parne · parren · pparen · praen
  • pasenapsen · pacen · paesn · pasenn · pasne · passen · ppasen · psaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paren" and "pasen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaɾẽn] versus [ˈpasẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "paren" or "pasen"?
"pasen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,817 in our Spanish list, against #10,039 for "paren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "paren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,474 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paren" and "pasen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paren vs prey". 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 #282,474 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