pasevspauWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,147
“pase” frequency rank
#13,972
“pau” frequency rank
15119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pase pau
Definition Acción o efecto de pasar (en sus diferentes acepciones). Paz.

Where the eye mixes pase and pau

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pase
3 ch
pau

Why the eye confuses pase with pau

A purely visual mix-up. pase ([ˈpase]) and pau ([ˈpaw]) 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 15119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pase is recorded at frequency rank #1,147, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpase]. pau is at rank #13,972, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaw].

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 15119, this pair ranks #281,450 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pase vs pau

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pase": es. Private to "pau": u.

"pase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paseapse · paes · passe · ppase · psae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pase" and "pau" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpase] versus [ˈpaw]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pase" vs "pau" - which ranks higher?
"pase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,147 in our Spanish list, against #13,972 for "pau". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,450 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pase" and "pau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pau vs PRC". 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 #281,450 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