pastosvspavosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,230
“pastos” frequency rank
#25,395
“pavos” frequency rank
42625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pastos pavos
Definition Forma del plural de pasto. Forma del plural de pavo.

Where the eye mixes pastos and pavos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pastos runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against pavos's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pastos
5 ch
pavos

Visual trap between pastos and pavos

A purely visual mix-up. pastos ([ˈpast̪os]) and pavos ([ˈpaβ̞os]) 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 42625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pastos is recorded at frequency rank #17,230, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpast̪os]. pavos is at rank #25,395, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaβ̞os].

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 42625, this pair ranks #147,155 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pastos vs pavos

Shared letters: aops. Private to "pastos": t. Private to "pavos": v.

"pastos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pavos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pastos ← apstos · pasots · passtos · pastoss · pastso · pasttos · patsos · ppastos
  • pavos ← apvos · pabos · paovs · pavoss · pavso · pavvos · ppavos · pvaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pastos" for "pavos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpast̪os] versus [ˈpaβ̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pastos" or "pavos"?
"pastos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,230 in our Spanish list, against #25,395 for "pavos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pastos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pavos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #147,155 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pastos" and "pavos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pacos vs pavos". 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 #147,155 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