passesvspraisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“passes” and “praises” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,321
“passes” frequency rank
#14,813
“praises” frequency rank
18134
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passes praises
Definition plural of pass plural of praise

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set passes and praises apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
passes
7 ch
praises

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. passes (/ˈpɑːsɪz/) and praises (/ˈpɹeɪzɪz/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passes is recorded at frequency rank #3,321, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɑːsɪz/. praises is at rank #14,813, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹeɪzɪz/.

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 18134, this pair ranks #446,888 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of passes vs praises

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "passes": -. Private to "praises": ir.

"passes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "praises" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passesapsses · pases · pasess · passess · passse · ppasses · psases
  • praisesparises · ppraises · praiess · praisess · praisses · prasies · priases · prraises

Frequency comparison

passes#3,321
praises#14,813

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "passes" and "praises" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɑːsɪz/ versus /ˈpɹeɪzɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "passes" or "praises"?
"passes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,321 in our English list, against #14,813 for "praises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering passes vs praises

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “passes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list