pastovspataWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,158
“pasto” frequency rank
#5,869
“pata” frequency rank
14027
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasto pata
Definition Cualquier producto vegetal que puede alimentar al ganado o a la fauna silvestre bien directamente, bien suministrado como forraje. Extremidad de los animales utilizada para la locomoción en tierra, que va en número de un único par en las aves y los primates hasta unos 200 pares en los miriápodos de la clase Diplopoda. Funcionalmente similar, es sin embargo evolutivamente muy diferente entre invertebrados y vertebrados. En estos últimos está por lo general dividida claramente en dos secciones, articuladas en la rodilla.

Where the eye mixes pasto and pata

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pasto runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against pata's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
pasto
4 ch
pata

Visual trap between pasto and pata

A purely visual mix-up. pasto ([ˈpast̪o]) and pata ([ˈpat̪a]) 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 14027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasto is recorded at frequency rank #8,158, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpast̪o]. pata is at rank #5,869, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪a].

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 14027, this pair ranks #285,674 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pasto vs pata

Shared letters: apt. Private to "pasto": os. Private to "pata": -.

"pasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pastoapsto · pasot · passto · pastto · patso · ppasto · psato
  • patapaat · patta · ppata · ptaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pasto" and "pata" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpast̪o] versus [ˈpat̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pasto" or "pata"?
"pata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,869 in our Spanish list, against #8,158 for "pasto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,674 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasto" and "pata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pacta vs pasto". 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 #285,674 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