pasadavspesabaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,992
“pasada” frequency rank
#21,106
“pesaba” frequency rank
23098
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasada pesaba
Definition Acción o efecto de pasar o de pasarse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de pesar.

Where the eye mixes pasada and pesaba

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

6 ch
pasada
6 ch
pesaba

Visual trap between pasada and pesaba

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasada is [paˈsað̞a] while pesaba is [peˈsaβ̞a]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasada is recorded at frequency rank #1,992, classified as anoun, pronounced [paˈsað̞a]. pesaba is at rank #21,106, tagged as averb, pronounced [peˈsaβ̞a].

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 23098, this pair ranks #247,403 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pasada vs pesaba

Shared letters: aps. Private to "pasada": d. Private to "pesaba": be.

"pasada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pesaba" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasadaapsada · paasda · pasaad · pasadda · pasdaa · passada · ppasada · psaada
  • pesabaepsaba · peasba · pesaab · pesabba · pesava · pesbaa · pessaba · ppesaba

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pasada" and "pesaba" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pasada" is a noun and "pesaba" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pasada" or "pesaba" show up more?
"pasada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,992 in our Spanish list, against #21,106 for "pesaba". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pesaba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #247,403 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasada" and "pesaba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pesaba vs pisada". 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 #247,403 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