partvspassWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: part is a noun, pass is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“part” is a noun and “pass” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#162
“part” frequency rank
#952
“pass” frequency rank
1114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature part pass
Definition A portion; a component. To change place.

Where the eye mixes part and pass

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

4 ch
part
4 ch
pass

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: part is /pɑːt/ while pass is /pɑːs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

part is recorded at frequency rank #162, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːt/. pass is at rank #952, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɑːs/.

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 1114, this pair ranks #528,067 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of part vs pass

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

"part" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partaprt · parrt · partt · patr · ppart
  • passapss · ppass · psas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "part" and "pass" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "part" is a noun and "pass" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "part" or "pass"?
"part" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #162 in our English list, against #952 for "pass". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list