pasaronvspatrónWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,680
“pasaron” frequency rank
#3,581
“patrón” frequency rank
6261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasaron patrón
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de pasar. Persona que defiende o protege una causa.

Where the eye mixes pasaron and patrón

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

7 ch
pasaron
6 ch
patrón

Why the eye confuses pasaron with patrón

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasaron is [paˈsaɾõn] while patrón is [paˈt̪ɾõn]. 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 6261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasaron is recorded at frequency rank #2,680, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈsaɾõn]. patrón is at rank #3,581, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈt̪ɾõn].

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 6261, this pair ranks #311,302 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pasaron vs patrón

Shared letters: anpr. Private to "pasaron": os. Private to "patrón": .

"pasaron" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "patrón" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasaronapsaron · paasron · pasaorn · pasarno · pasaronn · pasarron · pasraon · passaron

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pasaron" and "patrón" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pasaron" is a verb and "patrón" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pasaron" or "patrón"?
"pasaron" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,680 in our Spanish list, against #3,581 for "patrón". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasaron" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patrón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #311,302 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasaron" and "patrón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patrón vs pitón". 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 #311,302 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