ParasvspastsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Paras is a name, pasts is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Paras” is a name and “pasts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,810
“Paras” frequency rank
#44,990
“pasts” frequency rank
87800
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Paras pasts
Definition A surname. plural of past

Letter map: Paras vs pasts

Shared letters muted; letters that set Paras and pasts apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Paras (CVCVC) and pasts (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Paras
5 ch
pasts

Role in the sentence - Paras and pasts

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Paras is aname and pastsanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Paras is recorded at frequency rank #42,810, classified as aname. pasts is at rank #44,990, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɑːsts/.

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 87800, this pair ranks #7,142 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Paras vs pasts

Shared letters: aps. Private to "Paras": r. Private to "pasts": t.

"Paras" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pasts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Paras ← apras · paars · parass · parras · parsa · pparas · praas
  • pasts ← apsts · passts · pastss · pastts · ppasts · psats

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Paras" and "pasts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Paras" is a name and "pasts" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Paras" or "pasts"?
"Paras" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,810 in our English list, against #44,990 for "pasts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Paras" and "pasts".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Paras" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,142 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Paras" and "pasts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Palos vs pasts". 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 #7,142 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list