passenvsPassusConfusable pair

Quick tell: passen is a verb, Passus is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“passen” is a verb and “Passus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,932
“passen” frequency rank
#35,375
“Passus” frequency rank
37307
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passen Passus
Definition angemessen sein, sich eignen, harmonieren; gute Passform haben relativ kurzer Abschnitt eines laufenden Textes

Where the eye mixes passen and Passus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
passen
6 ch
Passus

Look-alike desk: passen vs Passus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passen is [ˈpasn̩] while Passus is [ˈpasʊs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37307, 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]. Passus is at rank #35,375, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasʊs].

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 37307, this pair ranks #1,593,598 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of passen vs Passus

Shared letters: aps. Private to "passen": en. Private to "Passus": u.

"passen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Passus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passenapssen · pasen · pasesn · passenn · passne · paßen · ppassen · psasen
  • Passusapssus · passsu · passuss · pasus · pasuss · paßus · ppassus · psasus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "passen" and "Passus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "passen" is a verb and "Passus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "passen" or "Passus"?
"passen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,932 in our German list, against #35,375 for "Passus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "passen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Passus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,593,598 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "passen" and "Passus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Passes vs Passus". 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 #1,593,598 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