pasiónvspensionTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,410
“pasión” frequency rank
#30,614
“pension” frequency rank
33024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasión pension
Definition Emoción o sentimiento muy fuertes. Pensión, jubilación. Cantidad monetaria que se otorga en forma periódica por diferentes motivos a una persona que no trabaja.

Where the eye mixes pasión and pension

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pasión runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against pension's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pasión
7 ch
pension

Why the eye confuses pasión with pension

A purely visual mix-up. pasión ([paˈsjõn]) and pension ([paŋˈɧɯːn]) 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 33024, 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]. pension is at rank #30,614, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paŋˈɧɯːn].

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 33024, this pair ranks #198,977 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pasión vs pension

Shared letters: inps. Private to "pasión": aó. Private to "pension": eo.

"pasión" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "pension" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pension ← epnsion · pencion · penison · pennsion · pensino · pensionn · pensoin · penssion

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pasión" for "pension" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈsjõn] versus [paŋˈɧɯːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pasión" vs "pension" - which ranks higher?
"pasión" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,410 in our Spanish list, against #30,614 for "pension". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "pasión" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pension" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #198,977 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasión" and "pension" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pension vs punción". 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 #198,977 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