pasarvspasoConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#381
“pasar” frequency rank
#343
“paso” frequency rank
724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasar paso
Definition Llevar de un lugar a otro. Cada uno de los movimientos de avance de las piernas al caminar.

Where the eye mixes pasar and paso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pasar
4 ch
paso

Visual trap between pasar and paso

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasar is [paˈsaɾ] while paso is [ˈpaso]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasar is recorded at frequency rank #381, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈsaɾ]. paso is at rank #343, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaso].

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 724, this pair ranks #323,039 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pasar vs paso

Shared letters: aps. Private to "pasar": r. Private to "paso": o.

"pasar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "paso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasarapsar · paasr · pasarr · pasra · passar · ppasar · psaar
  • pasoapso · paos · passo · ppaso · psao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pasar" and "paso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pasar" is a verb and "paso" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pasar" vs "paso" - which ranks higher?
"paso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #343 in our Spanish list, against #381 for "pasar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "paso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,039 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasar" and "paso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pasar vs petar". 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 #323,039 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