Which to use
“passable” and “possible” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,145
- “passable” frequency rank
- #438
- “possible” frequency rank
- 37583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passable | possible |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That may be passed or traversed. | Able but not certain to happen; neither inevitable nor impossible. |
Where the eye mixes passable and possible
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses passable with possible
A purely visual mix-up. passable (/ˈpæsəbəl/) and possible (/ˈpɒs.ə.bəl/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passable is recorded at frequency rank #37,145, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpæsəbəl/. possible is at rank #438, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɒs.ə.bəl/.
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 37583, this pair ranks #293,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passable vs possible
Shared letters: belps. Private to "passable": a. Private to "possible": io.
"passable" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "possible" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "passable" and "possible" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "passable" or "possible"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "passable" and "possible" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "possible" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passable" and "possible" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parable vs passable". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #293,313 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.