pastranavspatrañasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,990
“pastrana” frequency rank
#42,062
“patrañas” frequency rank
67052
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pastrana patrañas
Definition Mentira, engaño. Forma del plural de patraña.

Where the eye mixes pastrana and patrañas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pastrana (CVCCCVCV) and patrañas (CVCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
pastrana
8 ch
patrañas

Why the eye confuses pastrana with patrañas

A purely visual mix-up. pastrana ([pasˈt̪ɾana]) and patrañas ([paˈt̪ɾaɲas]) 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 6 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pastrana is recorded at frequency rank #24,990, classified as anoun, pronounced [pasˈt̪ɾana]. patrañas is at rank #42,062, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈt̪ɾaɲas].

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 67052, this pair ranks #38,151 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pastrana vs patrañas

Shared letters: aprst. Private to "pastrana": n. Private to "patrañas": ñ.

"pastrana" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV  ·  "patrañas" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pastranaapstrana · pasrtana · passtrana · pastarna · pastraan · pastranna · pastrnaa · pastrrana

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pastrana" and "patrañas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([pasˈt̪ɾana] versus [paˈt̪ɾaɲas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pastrana" or "patrañas"?
"pastrana" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,990 in our Spanish list, against #42,062 for "patrañas". 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 "pastrana" and "patrañas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pastrana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patrañas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,151 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pastrana" and "patrañas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paganas vs patrañas". 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 #38,151 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