pasabavspavadaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#3,276
“pasaba” frequency rank
#44,362
“pavada” frequency rank
47638
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasaba pavada
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de pasar. Grupo de pavos.

Where the eye mixes pasaba and pavada

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

6 ch
pasaba
6 ch
pavada

Look-alike desk: pasaba vs pavada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasaba is [paˈsaβ̞a] while pavada is [paˈβ̞að̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47638, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasaba is recorded at frequency rank #3,276, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈsaβ̞a]. pavada is at rank #44,362, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈβ̞að̞a].

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 47638, this pair ranks #118,939 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pasaba vs pavada

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pasaba": bs. Private to "pavada": dv.

"pasaba" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pavada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasabaapsaba · paasba · pasaab · pasabba · pasava · pasbaa · passaba · ppasaba
  • pavadaapvada · paavda · pabada · pavaad · pavadda · pavdaa · pavvada · ppavada

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pasaba" for "pavada" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pasaba" is a verb and "pavada" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pasaba" or "pavada"?
"pasaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,276 in our Spanish list, against #44,362 for "pavada". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pavada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,939 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasaba" and "pavada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pavada vs Poveda". 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 #118,939 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