Which to use
“passage” is a noun and “Passau” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,302
- “passage” frequency rank
- #8,917
- “Passau” frequency rank
- 20219
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passage | Passau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Textabschnitt oder eine Textstelle mit einem besonderen Sinn | kreisfreie Stadt in Bayern |
Where the eye mixes passage and Passau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. passage runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against Passau's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses passage with Passau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passage is [ˈpasɪdʒ] while Passau is [ˈpasaʊ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20219, 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]. Passau is at rank #8,917, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈpasaʊ̯].
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 20219, this pair ranks #1,900,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passage vs Passau
Shared letters: aps. Private to "passage": eg. Private to "Passau": u.
"passage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "Passau" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passage" for "Passau" ever safe?
Frequency check: "passage" vs "Passau" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "passage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Passau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,900,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passage" and "Passau" 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 #1,900,041 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.