partvspasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“part” and “pas” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#162
“part” frequency rank
#13,210
“pas” frequency rank
13372
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature part pas
Definition A portion; a component. The right of going foremost; precedence.

Where the eye mixes part and pas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
part
3 ch
pas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. part (/pɑːt/) 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 13372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

part is recorded at frequency rank #162, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːt/. 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 13372, this pair ranks #476,219 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of part vs pas

Shared letters: ap. Private to "part": rt. Private to "pas": s.

"part" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partaprt · parrt · partt · patr · ppart

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "part" and "pas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɑːt/ versus /pɑː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "part" or "pas"?
"part" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #162 in our English list, against #13,210 for "pas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list