pasovspsiWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#343
“paso” frequency rank
#36,774
“psi” frequency rank
37117
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paso psi
Definition Cada uno de los movimientos de avance de las piernas al caminar. Letra del alfabeto griego (Ψψ).

Where the eye mixes paso and psi

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

4 ch
paso
3 ch
psi

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. paso ([ˈpaso]) and psi ([ˈsi]) 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 37117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paso is recorded at frequency rank #343, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaso]. psi is at rank #36,774, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsi].

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 37117, this pair ranks #177,014 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paso vs psi

Shared letters: ps. Private to "paso": ao. Private to "psi": i.

"paso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "psi" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasoapso · paos · passo · ppaso · psao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paso" and "psi" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaso] versus [ˈsi]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "paso" or "psi"?
"paso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #343 in our Spanish list, against #36,774 for "psi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "paso" and "psi". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "psi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,014 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paso" and "psi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs psi". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list