pasadovspayasoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#226
“pasado” frequency rank
#8,159
“payaso” frequency rank
8385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasado payaso
Definition Temporada antes del presente. Actor que suele usar vestimenta y maquillaje estrafalarios con el fin de hacer reír mayormente a los niños.

Where the eye mixes pasado and payaso

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

6 ch
pasado
6 ch
payaso

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pasado ([paˈsað̞o]) and payaso ([paˈʝaso]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasado is recorded at frequency rank #226, classified as anoun, pronounced [paˈsað̞o]. payaso is at rank #8,159, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈʝaso].

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 8385, this pair ranks #305,151 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pasado vs payaso

Shared letters: aops. Private to "pasado": d. Private to "payaso": y.

"pasado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "payaso" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasadoapsado · paasdo · pasaddo · pasaod · pasdao · passado · ppasado · psaado
  • payasoapyaso · paayso · payaos · payasso · paysao · payyaso · ppayaso · pyaaso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pasado" and "payaso" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([paˈsað̞o] versus [paˈʝaso]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pasado" or "payaso"?
"pasado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #226 in our Spanish list, against #8,159 for "payaso". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list