passagevsPassagenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,302
“passage” frequency rank
#11,497
“Passagen” frequency rank
22799
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passage Passagen
Definition ein Textabschnitt oder eine Textstelle mit einem besonderen Sinn Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Passage

Where the eye mixes passage and Passagen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. passage runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against Passagen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
passage
8 ch
Passagen

Why the eye confuses passage with Passagen

A purely visual mix-up. passage ([ˈpasɪdʒ]) and Passagen ([paˈsaːʒən]) 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 extra letter(s) - “passage” sits inside “Passagen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passage is recorded at frequency rank #11,302, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasɪdʒ]. Passagen is at rank #11,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈsaːʒən].

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 22799, this pair ranks #1,869,613 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of passage vs Passagen

Shared letters: aegps. Private to "passage": -. Private to "Passagen": n.

"passage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "Passagen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passage ← apssage · pasage · pasasge · passaeg · passagge · passgae · paßage · ppassage
  • Passagen ← apssagen · pasagen · pasasgen · passaegn · passagenn · passaggen · passagne · passgaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "passage" for "Passagen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpasɪdʒ] versus [paˈsaːʒən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "passage" or "Passagen"?
"passage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,302 in our German list, against #11,497 for "Passagen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "passage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Passagen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,869,613 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "passage" and "Passagen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "package vs passage". 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 #1,869,613 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