parktevspassteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,374
“parkte” frequency rank
#10,719
“passte” frequency rank
59093
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parkte passte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs parken 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs passen

Where the eye mixes parkte and passte

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

6 ch
parkte
6 ch
passte

Why the eye confuses parkte with passte

A purely visual mix-up. parkte ([ˈpaʁktə]) and passte ([ˈpastə]) 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 59093, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parkte is recorded at frequency rank #48,374, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpaʁktə]. passte is at rank #10,719, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpastə].

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 59093, this pair ranks #837,610 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of parkte vs passte

Shared letters: aept. Private to "parkte": kr. Private to "passte": s.

"parkte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "passte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parkteaprkte · pakrte · parkkte · parktte · parrkte · partke · pparkte · prakte
  • passteapsste · passet · passtte · pastse · paßte · ppasste · psaste

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "parkte" for "passte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaʁktə] versus [ˈpastə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "parkte" or "passte"?
"passte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,719 in our German list, against #48,374 for "parkte". 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 "parkte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "passte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #837,610 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parkte" and "passte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Päpste vs parkte". 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 #837,610 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