pasavspúaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#270
“pasa” frequency rank
#46,152
“púa” frequency rank
46422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasa púa
Definition Uva seca, deshidratada parcialmente, sea de forma natural o por acción humana al cocerla al calor. Cuerpo de forma acicular, flexible, con punta afilada.

Where the eye mixes pasa and púa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pasa runs 4 letters (CVCV) against púa's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
pasa
3 ch
púa

Why the eye confuses pasa with púa

A purely visual mix-up. pasa ([ˈpasa]) and púa ([ˈpua]) 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 46422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasa is recorded at frequency rank #270, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasa]. púa is at rank #46,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpua].

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 46422, this pair ranks #125,811 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pasa vs púa

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pasa": s. Private to "púa": ú.

"pasa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "púa" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasa ← apsa · paas · passa · ppasa · psaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pasa" and "púa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpasa] versus [ˈpua]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pasa" or "púa"?
"pasa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #270 in our Spanish list, against #46,152 for "púa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "púa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,811 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasa" and "púa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs púa". 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 #125,811 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