Which to use
“palm” and “pas” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,876
- “palm” frequency rank
- #13,210
- “pas” frequency rank
- 18086
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palm | pas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any of various evergreen trees from the family Palmae or Arecaceae, which are mainly found in the tropics. | The right of going foremost; precedence. |
Where the eye mixes palm and pas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses palm with pas
A purely visual mix-up. palm (/pɑːm/) and pas (/pɑː/) 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 18086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
palm is recorded at frequency rank #4,876, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːm/. pas is at rank #13,210, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɑː/.
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 18086, this pair ranks #447,206 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of palm vs pas
Shared letters: ap. Private to "palm": lm. Private to "pas": s.
"palm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pas" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- palm ← aplm · pallm · palmm · paml · plam · ppalm
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "palm" for "pas" ever safe?
Which is more common, "palm" or "pas"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "palm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #447,206 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "palm" and "pas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pas vs PPA". 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 #447,206 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.