Which to use
“passte” is a verb and “past” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,719
- “passte” frequency rank
- #23,262
- “past” frequency rank
- 33981
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passte | past |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs passen | Vergangenheit, Vorleben |
Where the eye mixes passte and past
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses passte with past
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passte is [ˈpastə] while past is [pɑːst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 33981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passte is recorded at frequency rank #10,719, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpastə]. past is at rank #23,262, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɑːst].
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 33981, this pair ranks #1,673,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passte vs past
Shared letters: apst. Private to "passte": e. Private to "past": -.
"passte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "passte" and "past" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "passte" vs "past" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "passte" and "past" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "past" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,673,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passte" and "past" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "past 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 #1,673,715 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.