pasovspatWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#343
“paso” frequency rank
#14,422
“pat” frequency rank
14765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paso pat
Definition Cada uno de los movimientos de avance de las piernas al caminar. Cazón.

Where the eye mixes paso and pat

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
paso
3 ch
pat

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. paso ([ˈpaso]) and pat (/pat/) 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 14765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paso is recorded at frequency rank #343, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaso]. pat is at rank #14,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pat/.

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 14765, this pair ranks #282,839 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of paso vs pat

Shared letters: ap. Private to "paso": os. Private to "pat": t.

"paso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasoapso · paos · passo · ppaso · psao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paso" and "pat" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaso] versus /pat/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "paso" or "pat"?
"paso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #343 in our Spanish list, against #14,422 for "pat". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list