pasvsPaulsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,718
“pas” frequency rank
#25,260
“Pauls” frequency rank
35978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pas Pauls
Definition Schritt, Tritt Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Paul

Where the eye mixes pas and Pauls

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
pas
5 ch
Pauls

Visual trap between pas and Pauls

A purely visual mix-up. pas ([pa]) and Pauls ([paʊ̯ls]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pas is recorded at frequency rank #10,718, classified as anoun, pronounced [pa]. Pauls is at rank #25,260, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paʊ̯ls].

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 35978, this pair ranks #1,626,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pas vs Pauls

Shared letters: aps. Private to "pas": -. Private to "Pauls": lu.

"pas" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Pauls" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Paulsapuls · palus · paulls · paulss · pausl · ppauls · puals

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pas" and "Pauls" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([pa] versus [paʊ̯ls]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pas" vs "Pauls" - which ranks higher?
"pas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,718 in our German list, against #25,260 for "Pauls". 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 "pas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pauls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,626,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pas" and "Pauls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pau vs Pauls". 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 #1,626,953 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