Which to use
“past” is an adjective and “pastas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,289
- “past” frequency rank
- #19,200
- “pastas” frequency rank
- 57489
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | past | pastas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pasado, que ocurrió en el pasado. | Forma del plural de pasta. |
Where the eye mixes past and pastas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. past runs 4 letters (CVCC) against pastas's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses past with pastas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: past is /pɑːst/ while pastas is [ˈpast̪as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “past” sits inside “pastas”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
past is recorded at frequency rank #38,289, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɑːst/. pastas is at rank #19,200, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpast̪as].
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 57489, this pair ranks #70,313 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of past vs pastas
Shared letters: apst. Private to "past": -. Private to "pastas": -.
"past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pastas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "past" for "pastas" ever safe?
Frequency check: "past" vs "pastas" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "past" and "pastas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "past" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pastas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,313 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "past" and "pastas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pa'l vs past". 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 #70,313 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.