passieren

[paˈsiːʁən]

/[paˈsiːʁən]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“passieren” has 12 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #1,428. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,428
frequency rank, German
3,409
“P” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - etwas durchqueren, an etwas vorbeigehen oder -fahren, einen Ort überschreiten

Corpus desk

Index DE-passieren · passieren · German

passieren · rank #1,428 · 12 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,428
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,409
  • PHOTO-FINISH Organisation

Nearest frequency peer: Organisation (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „passieren“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „passieren“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

passieren vs passiert
78% similar
passieren vs Passiven
67% similar
passieren vs posieren
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for passieren
PropertyValue
Headwordpassieren
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[paˈsiːʁən]
Letters9
Frequency rank#1,428
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „passieren“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).passierenliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Organisation“ (#1,427), „rennen“ (#1,429), „miteinander“ (#1,426). Unter 3,409 „P“-Lemmata liegt „passieren“ bei #1,428. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around passieren (IPA [paˈsiːʁən]), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,428 among 3,409 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for passieren, with forms such as "apssieren", "pasieren", and "pasiseren". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "passiert", "Passiven", "posieren", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is passieren, spelled P-A-S-S-I-E-R-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    etwas durchqueren, an etwas vorbeigehen oder -fahren, einen Ort überschreiten
  2. 2
    durchseihen (Flüssigkeiten), durchstreichen (weiche Nahrungsmittel, zum Beispiel um Schalenreste oder Kerne zu entfernen)
  3. 3
    geschehen (ein Ereignis)

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how passieren appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Wir haben soeben die Landesgrenze passiert.
  2. „Alexei richtete sich nach dem Plan seiner Frau und passierte die Grenze ohne Probleme.“

This word in other languages

pass(English)suceder(Español)convenir(Français)passar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • apssieren
  • pasieren
  • pasiseren
  • passeiren
  • passieern
  • passierenn
  • passierne
  • passierren
  • passireen
  • paßieren
  • ppassieren
  • psasieren

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of passieren - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

apssieren2pasieren1pasiseren2passeiren2passieern2passierenn1passierne2passierren1
Edit distance from "passieren"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "passieren"?
"passieren" is spelled P-A-S-S-I-E-R-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [paˈsiːʁən].
What does "passieren" mean?
As a verb, "passieren" means: etwas durchqueren, an etwas vorbeigehen oder -fahren, einen Ort überschreiten
What words are commonly confused with "passieren"?
"passieren" is commonly confused with "passiert", "Passiven", "posieren". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "passieren"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "passieren" is [paˈsiːʁən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "passieren" come from?
"passieren" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "passieren", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Literatur#1,425gestorben#1,420zufrieden#1,443berichtet#1,445

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Sekunden12 variantsUmgebung12 variantsgehalten12 variantsweltweit12 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list