pasanvspatánWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pasan is a verb, patán is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pasan” is a verb and “patán” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,692
“pasan” frequency rank
#39,908
“patán” frequency rank
41600
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasan patán
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pasar. Falto de inteligencia y cultura.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pasan and patán apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pasan
5 ch
patán

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasan is [ˈpasãn] while patán is [paˈt̪ãn]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasan is recorded at frequency rank #1,692, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpasãn]. patán is at rank #39,908, tagged as anadj, pronounced [paˈt̪ãn].

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 41600, this pair ranks #152,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pasan vs patán

Shared letters: anp. Private to "pasan": s. Private to "patán": .

"pasan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "patán" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasanapsan · paasn · pasann · pasna · passan · ppasan · psaan

Frequency comparison

pasan#1,692
patán#39,908

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pasan" and "patán" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pasan" is a verb and "patán" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pasan" or "patán"?
"pasan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,692 in our Spanish list, against #39,908 for "patán". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering pasan vs patán

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “pasan”; for an adjective, it's “patán”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pasan” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list