Which to use
“passage” and “postage” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,547
- “passage” frequency rank
- #14,812
- “postage” frequency rank
- 19359
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passage | postage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A paragraph or section of text or music with particular meaning. | The system of transporting letters, and parcels. |
Where the eye mixes passage and postage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between passage and postage
A purely visual mix-up. passage (/ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/) and postage (/ˈpəʊstɪd͡ʒ/) 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 19359, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passage is recorded at frequency rank #4,547, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/. postage is at rank #14,812, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpəʊstɪd͡ʒ/.
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 19359, this pair ranks #438,718 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passage vs postage
Shared letters: aegps. Private to "passage": -. Private to "postage": ot.
"passage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "postage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "passage" and "postage" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "passage" or "postage" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "passage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "postage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,718 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passage" and "postage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "postage vs postgame". 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 #438,718 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.