Which to use
“passen” is a verb and “Passiven” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,932
- “passen” frequency rank
- #20,021
- “Passiven” frequency rank
- 21953
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passen | Passiven |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | angemessen sein, sich eignen, harmonieren; gute Passform haben | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Passiv |
Where the eye mixes passen and Passiven
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. passen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Passiven's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between passen and Passiven
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passen is [ˈpasn̩] while Passiven is [ˈpasiːvən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21953, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passen is recorded at frequency rank #1,932, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpasn̩]. Passiven is at rank #20,021, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasiːvən].
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 21953, this pair ranks #1,880,174 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passen vs Passiven
Shared letters: aenps. Private to "passen": -. Private to "Passiven": iv.
"passen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Passiven" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passen" for "Passiven" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "passen" or "Passiven" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "passen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Passiven" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,880,174 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passen" and "Passiven" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Passiven vs passiver". 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 #1,880,174 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.