pastovspatioConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#8,158
“pasto” frequency rank
#3,277
“patio” frequency rank
11435
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasto patio
Definition Cualquier producto vegetal que puede alimentar al ganado o a la fauna silvestre bien directamente, bien suministrado como forraje. Espacio cerrado con paredes o galerías, que en las casas y otros edificios se deja al descubierto.

Where the eye mixes pasto and patio

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

5 ch
pasto
5 ch
patio

Why the eye confuses pasto with patio

A purely visual mix-up. pasto ([ˈpast̪o]) and patio ([ˈpat̪jo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11435, 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]. patio is at rank #3,277, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪jo].

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 11435, this pair ranks #295,134 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pasto vs patio

Shared letters: aopt. Private to "pasto": s. Private to "patio": i.

"pasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "patio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pastoapsto · pasot · passto · pastto · patso · ppasto · psato
  • patioaptio · paito · patoi · pattio · ppatio · ptaio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pasto" and "patio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpast̪o] versus [ˈpat̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pasto" vs "patio" - which ranks higher?
"patio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,277 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,134 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasto" and "patio" 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 #295,134 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