PassvsponsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,315
“Pass” frequency rank
#44,143
“pons” frequency rank
46458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pass pons
Definition Dokument, das für Auslandsreisen erforderlich ist, falls es zwischen dem Heimatland und dem Zielland keine Sondervereinbarungen gibt; Reisepass Brücke, Steg über einen Fluss, Morast oder Ähnliches

Letter map: Pass vs pons

Shared letters muted; letters that set Pass and pons apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Pass
4 ch
pons

Pair insight - Pass / pons

Pass and pons are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46458, 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]. pons is at rank #44,143, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 46458, this pair ranks #1,318,468 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pass vs pons

Shared letters: ps. Private to "Pass": a. Private to "pons": no.

"Pass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Passapss · paß · ppass · psas
  • ponsopns · pnos · ponns · ponss · posn · ppons

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Pass" and "pons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Pass" vs "pons" - which ranks higher?
"Pass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,315 in our German list, against #44,143 for "pons". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Pass" and "pons". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,318,468 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pass" and "pons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pons vs puzzles". 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 #1,318,468 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