Which to use
“passieren” is a verb and “passierten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,428
- “passieren” frequency rank
- #38,331
- “passierten” frequency rank
- 39759
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passieren | passierten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas durchqueren, an etwas vorbeigehen oder -fahren, einen Ort überschreiten | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs passiert |
Where the eye mixes passieren and passierten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. passieren runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against passierten's 10 (CVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses passieren with passierten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passieren is [paˈsiːʁən] while passierten is [paˈsiːɐ̯tn̩]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passieren is recorded at frequency rank #1,428, classified as averb, pronounced [paˈsiːʁən]. passierten is at rank #38,331, tagged as anadj, pronounced [paˈsiːɐ̯tn̩].
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 39759, this pair ranks #1,527,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passieren vs passierten
Shared letters: aeinprs. Private to "passieren": -. Private to "passierten": t.
"passieren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC · "passierten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- passieren ← apssieren · pasieren · pasiseren · passeiren · passieern · passierenn · passierne · passierren
- passierten ← apssierten · pasierten · pasiserten · passeirten · passieretn · passierrten · passiertenn · passiertne
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passieren" for "passierten" ever safe?
Which is more common, "passieren" or "passierten"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "passieren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passierten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,527,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passieren" and "passierten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "passierten vs pausieren". 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 #1,527,736 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.