Which to use
“pasaba” is a verb and “pesada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,276
- “pasaba” frequency rank
- #6,214
- “pesada” frequency rank
- 9490
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pasaba | pesada |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de pasar. | Forma del femenino de pesado, participio de pesar. |
Where the eye mixes pasaba and pesada
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pasaba vs pesada
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasaba is [paˈsaβ̞a] while pesada is [peˈsað̞a]. 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 participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9490, 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]. pesada is at rank #6,214, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [peˈsað̞a].
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 9490, this pair ranks #301,774 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pasaba vs pesada
Shared letters: aps. Private to "pasaba": b. Private to "pesada": de.
"pasaba" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "pesada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pasaba" and "pesada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pasaba" or "pesada" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pasaba" and "pesada" 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 "pesada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #301,774 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pasaba" and "pesada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peladas vs pesada". 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 #301,774 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.