pasarvspisaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#381
“pasar” frequency rank
#11,109
“pisa” frequency rank
11490
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasar pisa
Definition Llevar de un lugar a otro. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pisar.

Where the eye mixes pasar and pisa

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

5 ch
pasar
4 ch
pisa

Look-alike desk: pasar vs pisa

A purely visual mix-up. pasar ([paˈsaɾ]) and pisa ([ˈpisa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11490, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasar is recorded at frequency rank #381, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈsaɾ]. pisa is at rank #11,109, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpisa].

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 11490, this pair ranks #294,917 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pasar vs pisa

Shared letters: aps. Private to "pasar": r. Private to "pisa": i.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasarapsar · paasr · pasarr · pasra · passar · ppasar · psaar
  • pisaipsa · pias · pissa · ppisa · psia

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pasar" for "pisa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈsaɾ] versus [ˈpisa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pasar" vs "pisa" - which ranks higher?
"pasar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #381 in our Spanish list, against #11,109 for "pisa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "pasar" and "pisa" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pisa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #294,917 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasar" and "pisa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pipi vs pisa". 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 #294,917 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