Which to use
“passt” is a verb and “pays” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #838
- “passt” frequency rank
- #41,381
- “pays” frequency rank
- 42219
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passt | pays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs passen | Plural des Substantivs pay |
Where the eye mixes passt and pays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: passt vs pays
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passt is [past] while pays is [peɪz]. 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 42219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passt is recorded at frequency rank #838, classified as averb, pronounced [past]. pays is at rank #41,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced [peɪz].
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 42219, this pair ranks #1,456,060 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passt vs pays
Shared letters: aps. Private to "passt": t. Private to "pays": y.
"passt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "passt" and "pays" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "passt" or "pays" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "passt" and "pays" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,456,060 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passt" and "pays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pays vs PMS". 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 #1,456,060 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.