pasasevspésameWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#33,263
“pasase” frequency rank
#20,484
“pésame” frequency rank
53747
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasase pésame
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo de pasar. Expresión con que se manifiesta el sentimiento de pena o aflicción por el fallecimiento de una persona. El pésame se da a los familiares más cercanos del fallecido, muy en particular al cónyuge, hermanos, padres e hijos.

Where the eye mixes pasase and pésame

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pasase and pésame follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
pasase
6 ch
pésame

Visual trap between pasase and pésame

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasase is [paˈsase] while pésame is [ˈpesame]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasase is recorded at frequency rank #33,263, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈsase]. pésame is at rank #20,484, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpesame].

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 53747, this pair ranks #86,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pasase vs pésame

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "pasase": -. Private to "pésame": mé.

"pasase" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pésame" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasase ← apsase · paasse · pasace · pasaes · pasasse · passae · passase · ppasase

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pasase" and "pésame" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pasase" is a verb and "pésame" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pasase" or "pésame" show up more?
"pésame" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,484 in our Spanish list, against #33,263 for "pasase". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pésame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #86,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasase" and "pésame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pasase vs pasearse". 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 #86,394 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