patvspazWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,422
“pat” frequency rank
#435
“paz” frequency rank
14857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pat paz
Definition Cazón. Condición espiritual o anímica de tranquilidad o quietud.

Where the eye mixes pat and paz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
pat
3 ch
paz

Why the eye confuses pat with paz

A purely visual mix-up. pat (/pat/) and paz ([ˈpas]) 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 - t in “pat” becomes z in “paz”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pat is recorded at frequency rank #14,422, classified as anoun, pronounced /pat/. paz is at rank #435, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpas].

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 14857, this pair ranks #282,469 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pat vs paz

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pat": t. Private to "paz": z.

"pat" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "paz" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pat" and "paz" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/pat/ versus [ˈpas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pat" or "paz" show up more?
"paz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #435 in our Spanish list, against #14,422 for "pat". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "paz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,469 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pat" and "paz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pat vs PRC". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #282,469 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