pasovspoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: paso is a noun, po is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“paso” is a noun and “po” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#343
“paso” frequency rank
#5,029
“po” frequency rank
5372
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paso po
Definition Cada uno de los movimientos de avance de las piernas al caminar. Denota impaciencia, frustración, alegría y otros sentimientos según la entonación que se le dé..

Where the eye mixes paso and po

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

4 ch
paso
2 ch
po

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paso is [ˈpaso] while po is [ˈpo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paso is recorded at frequency rank #343, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaso]. po is at rank #5,029, tagged as anintj, pronounced [ˈpo].

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 5372, this pair ranks #313,791 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of paso vs po

Shared letters: op. Private to "paso": as. Private to "po": -.

"paso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "po" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasoapso · paos · passo · ppaso · psao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paso" and "po" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paso" is a noun and "po" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "paso" or "po"?
"paso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #343 in our Spanish list, against #5,029 for "po". 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