Which to use
“passion” and “Pension” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,146
- “passion” frequency rank
- #7,796
- “Pension” frequency rank
- 21942
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passion | Pension |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Leidenschaft, Lust, Passion | kleiner Hotelbetrieb mit meist privater Atmosphäre |
Where the eye mixes passion and Pension
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. passion and Pension follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses passion with Pension
A purely visual mix-up. passion ([pa.sjɔ̃]) and Pension ([pɑ̃ˈzi̯oːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passion is recorded at frequency rank #14,146, classified as anoun, pronounced [pa.sjɔ̃]. Pension is at rank #7,796, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɑ̃ˈzi̯oːn].
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 21942, this pair ranks #1,880,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passion vs Pension
Shared letters: inops. Private to "passion": a. Private to "Pension": e.
"passion" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "Pension" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passion" for "Pension" ever safe?
Which is more common, "passion" or "Pension"?
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 "passion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Pension" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,880,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passion" and "Pension" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "passion vs passten". 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 #1,880,299 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.