Parse or pass?
parse is a verb meaning “To resolve (a sentence, etc.) into its elements, pointing out the several parts…”; pass is a verb meaning “To move or be moved from one place to another”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) pass is about 117 times as common as parse.
What is the difference between parse and pass?
| parse | pass | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | verb, noun, adjective |
| Meaning | To resolve (a sentence, etc.) into its elements, pointing out the several parts of speech, and their relation to each other by agreement or government; to… To examine closely; to scrutinize An act of parsing; a parsing | To move or be moved from one place to another To go past, by, over, or through; to proceed from one side to the other of; to move past An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier such as a mountain range… |
| Example | This sentence doesn't parse | They passed from room to room |
| Forms | parses, parsing, parsed | passes, passing, passed |
| Pronunciation | /pɑːz/ [pʰɑːz] /pɑɹs/ | /pɑːs/ [pʰɑːs] [pʰäːs] |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words | 112 times per million words |
Sources: parse and pass in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of parse and pass
parse
- 1
To resolve (a sentence, etc.) into its elements, pointing out the several parts of speech, and their relation to each other by agreement or government; to analyze and describe grammatically
- 2
An act of parsing; a parsing
The parse will fail if the program contains an unrecognised keyword
- 3
To examine closely; to scrutinize
- 4
The result of such an act; a parsing
This parse is incorrect and indicates a fault in the parser
- 5
To split (a file or other input) into pieces of data that can be easily manipulated or stored
- 6
To resolve (a string of code or text) into its elements to determine if it conforms to a particular grammar
- 7
Of a string of code or text, sentence, etc.: to conform to rules of grammar, to be syntactically valid
This sentence doesn't parse
pass
- 1
To move or be moved from one place to another
They passed from room to room
- 2
An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier such as a mountain range; a passageway; a defile; a ford
mountain pass
- 3
slangA password (especially one for a restricted-access website)
Anyone want to trade passes?
- 4
Abbreviation of passive
- 5
Initialism of positive alternative to school suspension
- 6
To go past, by, over, or through; to proceed from one side to the other of; to move past
You will pass a house on your right
- 7
A channel connecting a river or body of water to the sea, for example at the mouth (delta) of a river
the passes of the Mississippi
- 8
Initialism of penile artery shunt syndrome
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, parse or pass?
parse appears about once in every 1 million words; pass 112 times per million words.
parse about once in every 1 million wordspass 112 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).