paseavspaseabaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,166
“pasea” frequency rank
#35,183
“paseaba” frequency rank
58349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasea paseaba
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pasear. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de pasear.

Where the eye mixes pasea and paseaba

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pasea
7 ch
paseaba

Why the eye confuses pasea with paseaba

A purely visual mix-up. pasea ([paˈsea]) and paseaba ([paseˈaβ̞a]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pasea” sits inside “paseaba”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasea is recorded at frequency rank #23,166, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈsea]. paseaba is at rank #35,183, tagged as averb, pronounced [paseˈaβ̞a].

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 58349, this pair ranks #66,779 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pasea vs paseaba

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "pasea": -. Private to "paseaba": b.

"pasea" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "paseaba" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paseaapsea · pacea · paesa · pasae · passea · ppasea · psaea
  • paseabaapseaba · paceaba · paesaba · pasaeba · paseaab · paseabba · paseava · pasebaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pasea" for "paseaba" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈsea] versus [paseˈaβ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pasea" vs "paseaba" - which ranks higher?
"pasea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,166 in our Spanish list, against #35,183 for "paseaba". 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 "pasea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "paseaba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,779 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasea" and "paseaba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paseaba vs peleaba". 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 #66,779 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