pasadasvspasivasConfusable pair

Quick tell: pasadas is a participle, pasivas is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pasadas” is a participle and “pasivas” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,046
“pasadas” frequency rank
#37,767
“pasivas” frequency rank
44813
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasadas pasivas
Definition Forma del femenino plural de pasado, participio de pasar. Forma del femenino plural de pasivo.

Where the eye mixes pasadas and pasivas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
pasadas
7 ch
pasivas

Why the eye confuses pasadas with pasivas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasadas is [paˈsað̞as] while pasivas is [paˈsiβ̞as]. 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 (participle vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasadas is recorded at frequency rank #7,046, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [paˈsað̞as]. pasivas is at rank #37,767, tagged as anadj, pronounced [paˈsiβ̞as].

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 44813, this pair ranks #134,980 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pasadas vs pasivas

Shared letters: aps. Private to "pasadas": d. Private to "pasivas": iv.

"pasadas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "pasivas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasadasapsadas · paasdas · pasaads · pasadass · pasaddas · pasadsa · pasdaas · passadas
  • pasivasapsivas · pacivas · paisvas · pasiavs · pasibas · pasivass · pasivsa · pasivvas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pasadas" for "pasivas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pasadas" is a participle and "pasivas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pasadas" or "pasivas" show up more?
"pasadas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,046 in our Spanish list, against #37,767 for "pasivas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasadas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasivas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,980 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasadas" and "pasivas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pasarás vs pasivas". 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 #134,980 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