PaaresvsPassesTell them apart

Which to use

“Paares” and “Passes” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,119
“Paares” frequency rank
#43,401
“Passes” frequency rank
69520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Paares Passes
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Paar Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Pass

Where the eye mixes Paares and Passes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Paares (CVVCVC) and Passes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Paares
6 ch
Passes

Look-alike desk: Paares vs Passes

A purely visual mix-up. Paares ([ˈpaːʁəs]) and Passes ([ˈpasəs]) 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 69520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Paares is recorded at frequency rank #26,119, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaːʁəs]. Passes is at rank #43,401, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasəs].

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 69520, this pair ranks #474,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Paares vs Passes

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "Paares": r. Private to "Passes": -.

"Paares" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Passes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Paares ← apares · paaers · paaress · paarres · paarse · paraes · pares · ppaares
  • Passes ← apsses · pases · pasess · passess · passse · paßes · ppasses · psases

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Paares" and "Passes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaːʁəs] versus [ˈpasəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Paares" or "Passes"?
"Paares" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,119 in our German list, against #43,401 for "Passes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Paares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Passes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #474,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Paares" and "Passes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Passes vs Präses". 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 #474,084 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list