Which to use
“pass” and “passed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #952
- “pass” frequency rank
- #1,281
- “passed” frequency rank
- 2233
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pass | passed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To change place. | simple past and past participle of pass |
Where the eye mixes pass and passed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. pass (/pɑːs/) and passed (/pɑːst/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pass” sits inside “passed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pass is recorded at frequency rank #952, classified as averb, pronounced /pɑːs/. passed is at rank #1,281, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɑːst/.
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 2233, this pair ranks #525,507 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pass vs passed
Shared letters: aps. Private to "pass": -. Private to "passed": de.
"pass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "passed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC