Which to use
“pasts” and “punts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,990
- “pasts” frequency rank
- #43,864
- “punts” frequency rank
- 88854
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pasts | punts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of past | plural of punt |
Where the eye mixes pasts and punts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pasts and punts follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: pasts vs punts
A purely visual mix-up. pasts (/pɑːsts/) and punts (/pʌnts/) 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 88854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pasts is recorded at frequency rank #44,990, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːsts/. punts is at rank #43,864, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pʌnts/.
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 88854, this pair ranks #5,831 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pasts vs punts
Shared letters: pst. Private to "pasts": a. Private to "punts": nu.
"pasts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "punts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pasts" and "punts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pasts" or "punts"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pasts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "punts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,831 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pasts" and "punts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Palos vs pasts". 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 #5,831 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.