pasiónvspasivosConfusable pair

Quick tell: pasión is a noun, pasivos is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pasión” is a noun and “pasivos” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,410
“pasión” frequency rank
#14,909
“pasivos” frequency rank
17319
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasión pasivos
Definition Emoción o sentimiento muy fuertes. Forma del masculino plural de pasivo.

Where the eye mixes pasión and pasivos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pasión
7 ch
pasivos

Visual trap between pasión and pasivos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pasión is [paˈsjõn] while pasivos is [paˈsiβ̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasión is recorded at frequency rank #2,410, classified as anoun, pronounced [paˈsjõn]. pasivos is at rank #14,909, tagged as anadj, pronounced [paˈsiβ̞os].

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 17319, this pair ranks #272,650 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pasión vs pasivos

Shared letters: aips. Private to "pasión": . Private to "pasivos": ov.

"pasión" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "pasivos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasivosapsivos · pacivos · paisvos · pasibos · pasiovs · pasivoss · pasivso · pasivvos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pasión" and "pasivos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pasión" is a noun and "pasivos" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pasión" or "pasivos"?
"pasión" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,410 in our Spanish list, against #14,909 for "pasivos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "pasión" and "pasivos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasión" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasivos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #272,650 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasión" and "pasivos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pasivos vs pésimos". 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 #272,650 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