Which to use
“passt” and “presst” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #838
- “passt” frequency rank
- #48,395
- “presst” frequency rank
- 49233
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passt | presst |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs passen | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs pressen |
Where the eye mixes passt and presst
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. passt runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against presst's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between passt and presst
A purely visual mix-up. passt ([past]) and presst ([pʁɛst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passt is recorded at frequency rank #838, classified as averb, pronounced [past]. presst is at rank #48,395, tagged as averb, pronounced [pʁɛst].
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 49233, this pair ranks #1,219,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passt vs presst
Shared letters: pst. Private to "passt": a. Private to "presst": er.
"passt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "presst" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passt" for "presst" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "passt" or "presst" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "passt" and "presst" 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 "presst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,219,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passt" and "presst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "preist vs presst". 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 #1,219,030 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.