Which to use
“pass” is a verb and “past” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #952
- “pass” frequency rank
- #437
- “past” frequency rank
- 1389
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pass | past |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To change place. | The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future. |
Where the eye mixes pass and past
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pass is /pɑːs/ while past is /pɑːst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “pass” becomes t in “past”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pass is recorded at frequency rank #952, classified as averb, pronounced /pɑːs/. past is at rank #437, tagged as anoun, 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 1389, this pair ranks #527,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pass vs past
Shared letters: aps. Private to "pass": -. Private to "past": t.
"pass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC