passable
/ˈpæsəbəl/
"passable" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“passable” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #37,145 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #37,145
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - That may be passed or traversed.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | passable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpæsəbəl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #37,145 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “passable” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for passable is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpæsəbəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #37,145 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for passable, with forms such as "apssable", "pasable", and "pasasble". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "passage", "payable", "possible", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French passable, equivalent to pass + -able. The correct English form is passable, spelled P-A-S-S-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1That may be passed or traversed.
- 2Tolerable; adequate; no more than satisfactory.
- 3able to "pass", or be accepted as a member of a race, sex or other group to which society would not otherwise regard one as belonging.
Etymology
From French passable, equivalent to pass + -able.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apssable,pasable,pasasble,passabble,passabel,passablle,passalbe,passbale,passible,ppassable,psasable
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of passable - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “passable”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-S-S-A-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpæsəbəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “passage” - see the side-by-side comparison. passable vs passage
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.