Which to use
“Passiv” is a noun and “passte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,109
- “Passiv” frequency rank
- #10,719
- “passte” frequency rank
- 21828
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Passiv | passte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine der beiden Diathesen, ein Genus Verbi, Leideform | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs passen |
Where the eye mixes Passiv and passte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Passiv with passte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Passiv is [ˈpasiːf] while passte is [ˈpastə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Passiv is recorded at frequency rank #11,109, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpasiːf]. passte is at rank #10,719, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpastə].
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 21828, this pair ranks #1,881,667 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Passiv vs passte
Shared letters: aps. Private to "Passiv": iv. Private to "passte": et.
"Passiv" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "passte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Passiv" for "passte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Passiv" or "passte" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Passiv" and "passte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Passiv" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,881,667 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Passiv" and "passte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parkte vs passte". 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 #1,881,667 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.