Which to use
“paces” is a verb and “passés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,583
- “paces” frequency rank
- #3,556
- “passés” frequency rank
- 47139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paces | passés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier (tú) du présent de l’indicatif de pacer. | Masculin pluriel de passé. |
Where the eye mixes paces and passés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. paces runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against passés's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses paces with passés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paces is \ˈpa.θes\ while passés is \pa.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paces is recorded at frequency rank #43,583, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈpa.θes\. passés is at rank #3,556, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.se\.
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 47139, this pair ranks #189,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paces vs passés
Shared letters: aps. Private to "paces": ce. Private to "passés": é.
"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "passés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- paces ← apces · pacces · pacess · pacse · paecs · pcaes · ppaces
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "paces" and "passés" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "paces" or "passés"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paces" and "passés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paces vs palaces". 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 #189,252 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.