PassvsPaulsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,315
“Pass” frequency rank
#25,260
“Pauls” frequency rank
27575
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pass Pauls
Definition Dokument, das für Auslandsreisen erforderlich ist, falls es zwischen dem Heimatland und dem Zielland keine Sondervereinbarungen gibt; Reisepass Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Paul

Where the eye mixes Pass and Pauls

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

4 ch
Pass
5 ch
Pauls

Why the eye confuses Pass with Pauls

A purely visual mix-up. Pass ([pas]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27575, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pass is recorded at frequency rank #2,315, classified as anoun, pronounced [pas]. 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 27575, this pair ranks #1,799,514 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Pass vs Pauls

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

"Pass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Pauls" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Passapss · paß · ppass · psas
  • Paulsapuls · palus · paulls · paulss · pausl · ppauls · puals

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Pass" for "Pauls" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pas] versus [paʊ̯ls]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Pass" vs "Pauls" - which ranks higher?
"Pass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,315 in our German list, against #25,260 for "Pauls". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pass" 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 #1,799,514 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pass" 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 #1,799,514 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