paseavspateoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,166
“pasea” frequency rank
#46,713
“pateo” frequency rank
69879
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes pasea and pateo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pasea and pateo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
pasea
5 ch
pateo

Visual trap between pasea and pateo

A purely visual mix-up. pasea ([paˈsea]) and pateo ([paˈt̪eo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69879, 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]. pateo is at rank #46,713, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈt̪eo].

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 69879, this pair ranks #31,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pasea vs pateo

Shared letters: aep. Private to "pasea": s. Private to "pateo": ot.

"pasea" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "pateo" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasea ← apsea · pacea · paesa · pasae · passea · ppasea · psaea
  • pateo ← apteo · paeto · patoe · patteo · ppateo · ptaeo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pasea" and "pateo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([paˈsea] versus [paˈt̪eo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pasea" or "pateo" show up more?
"pasea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,166 in our Spanish list, against #46,713 for "pateo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pateo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasea" and "pateo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pateo vs platero". 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 #31,013 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