pastasvspastosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,200
“pastas” frequency rank
#17,230
“pastos” frequency rank
36430
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pastas pastos
Definition Forma del plural de pasta. Forma del plural de pasto.

Where the eye mixes pastas and pastos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pastas
6 ch
pastos

Visual trap between pastas and pastos

A purely visual mix-up. pastas ([ˈpast̪as]) and pastos ([ˈpast̪os]) 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 a single letter - a in “pastas” becomes o in “pastos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pastas is recorded at frequency rank #19,200, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpast̪as]. pastos is at rank #17,230, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpast̪os].

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 36430, this pair ranks #180,642 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pastas vs pastos

Shared letters: apst. Private to "pastas": -. Private to "pastos": o.

"pastas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pastos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pastasapstas · pasats · passtas · pastass · pastsa · pasttas · patsas · ppastas
  • pastosapstos · pasots · passtos · pastoss · pastso · pasttos · patsos · ppastos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pastas" for "pastos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpast̪as] versus [ˈpast̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pastas" or "pastos" show up more?
"pastos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,230 in our Spanish list, against #19,200 for "pastas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pastas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pastos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #180,642 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pastas" and "pastos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pastas vs postas". 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 #180,642 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