PassesvsPassusWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,401
“Passes” frequency rank
#35,375
“Passus” frequency rank
78776
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Passes Passus
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Pass relativ kurzer Abschnitt eines laufenden Textes

Where the eye mixes Passes and Passus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Passes
6 ch
Passus

Visual trap between Passes and Passus

A purely visual mix-up. Passes ([ˈpasəs]) and Passus ([ˈpasʊs]) 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 a single letter - e in “Passes” becomes u in “Passus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Passes is recorded at frequency rank #43,401, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasəs]. 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 78776, this pair ranks #230,858 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Passes vs Passus

Shared letters: aps. Private to "Passes": e. Private to "Passus": u.

"Passes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Passus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Passesapsses · pases · pasess · passess · passse · paßes · ppasses · psases
  • Passusapssus · passsu · passuss · pasus · pasuss · paßus · ppassus · psasus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Passes" and "Passus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpasəs] versus [ˈpasʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Passes" or "Passus"?
"Passus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,375 in our German list, against #43,401 for "Passes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Passes" 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 #230,858 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Passes" and "Passus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Passes vs Präses". 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 #230,858 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