paseanvspateaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,255
“pasean” frequency rank
#33,758
“patea” frequency rank
68013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasean patea
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de pasear. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de patear.

Where the eye mixes pasean and patea

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pasean runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against patea's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pasean
5 ch
patea

Look-alike desk: pasean vs patea

A purely visual mix-up. pasean ([paˈseãn]) and patea ([paˈt̪ea]) 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 68013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasean is recorded at frequency rank #34,255, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈseãn]. patea is at rank #33,758, tagged as averb, pronounced [paˈt̪ea].

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 68013, this pair ranks #35,618 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pasean vs patea

Shared letters: aep. Private to "pasean": ns. Private to "patea": t.

"pasean" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "patea" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasean ← apsean · pacean · paesan · pasaen · paseann · pasena · passean · ppasean
  • patea ← aptea · paeta · patae · pattea · ppatea · ptaea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pasean" for "patea" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈseãn] versus [paˈt̪ea]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pasean" vs "patea" - which ranks higher?
"patea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,758 in our Spanish list, against #34,255 for "pasean". 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 "pasean" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patea" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,618 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasean" and "patea" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parca vs patea". 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 #35,618 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