passtvsPassusConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#838
“passt” frequency rank
#35,375
“Passus” frequency rank
36213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passt Passus
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs passen relativ kurzer Abschnitt eines laufenden Textes

Where the eye mixes passt and Passus

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

5 ch
passt
6 ch
Passus

Visual trap between passt and Passus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passt is [past] while Passus is [ˈpasʊs]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passt is recorded at frequency rank #838, classified as averb, pronounced [past]. 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 36213, this pair ranks #1,621,254 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of passt vs Passus

Shared letters: aps. Private to "passt": t. Private to "Passus": u.

"passt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Passus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passtapsst · passtt · pasts · paßt · ppasst · psast
  • Passusapssus · passsu · passuss · pasus · pasuss · paßus · ppassus · psasus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "passt" and "Passus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "passt" is a verb and "Passus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "passt" or "Passus"?
"passt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #838 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "passt" 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 #1,621,254 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "passt" 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 #1,621,254 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