Which to use
“past” and “pax” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #437
- “past” frequency rank
- #19,655
- “pax” frequency rank
- 20092
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | past | pax |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future. | A painted, stamped or carved tablet with a representation of Christ or the Virgin Mary, which was kissed by the priest during the Mass ("kiss of peace") and then passed to other officiating clergy and the congregation to be kissed. See also osculatory. |
Where the eye mixes past and pax
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. past (/pɑːst/) and pax (/pæks/) 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 20092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
past is recorded at frequency rank #437, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːst/. pax is at rank #19,655, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pæks/.
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 20092, this pair ranks #433,525 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of past vs pax
Shared letters: ap. Private to "past": st. Private to "pax": x.
"past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pax" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- past ← apst · passt · pastt · ppast · psat