parovspayWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,678
“paro” frequency rank
#23,167
“pay” frequency rank
25845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paro pay
Definition Interrupción o alteración que los trabajadores hacen de su actividad para protestar contra las condiciones en las que la desempeñan. Pagar.

Where the eye mixes paro and pay

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

4 ch
paro
3 ch
pay

Look-alike desk: paro vs pay

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paro is [ˈpaɾo] while pay is /peɪ/. 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 25845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paro is recorded at frequency rank #2,678, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaɾo]. pay is at rank #23,167, tagged as averb, pronounced /peɪ/.

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 25845, this pair ranks #234,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paro vs pay

Shared letters: ap. Private to "paro": or. Private to "pay": y.

"paro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pay" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paroapro · paor · parro · pparo · prao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "paro" for "pay" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paro" is a noun and "pay" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "paro" vs "pay" - which ranks higher?
"paro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,678 in our Spanish list, against #23,167 for "pay". 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 "paro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #234,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paro" and "pay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pay 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 #234,544 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