passvspausasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,155
“pass” frequency rank
#28,865
“pausas” frequency rank
49020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pass pausas
Definition Pasar. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de pausar.

Where the eye mixes pass and pausas

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

4 ch
pass
6 ch
pausas

Why the eye confuses pass with pausas

A purely visual mix-up. pass (/pɑːs/) and pausas ([ˈpawsas]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pass is recorded at frequency rank #20,155, classified as averb, pronounced /pɑːs/. pausas is at rank #28,865, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpawsas].

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 49020, this pair ranks #111,219 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pass vs pausas

Shared letters: aps. Private to "pass": -. Private to "pausas": u.

"pass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pausas" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passapss · ppass · psas
  • pausasapusas · pasuas · pauass · pausass · paussas · ppausas · puasas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pass" and "pausas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɑːs/ versus [ˈpawsas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pass" or "pausas"?
"pass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,155 in our Spanish list, against #28,865 for "pausas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pausas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #111,219 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pass" and "pausas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pausas vs pisas". 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 #111,219 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