Which to use
“panser” is a verb and “passé” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,408
- “panser” frequency rank
- #318
- “passé” frequency rank
- 40726
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | panser | passé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Soigner une plaie ou une blessure ; lui faire un pansement. | Le temps écoulé. |
Where the eye mixes panser and passé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. panser runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against passé's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses panser with passé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: panser is \pɑ̃.se\ while passé 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
panser is recorded at frequency rank #40,408, classified as averb, pronounced \pɑ̃.se\. passé is at rank #318, tagged as anoun, 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 40726, this pair ranks #238,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of panser vs passé
Shared letters: aps. Private to "panser": enr. Private to "passé": é.
"panser" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "passé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- panser ← apnser · panesr · pannser · panserr · pansre · pansser · pasner · pnaser
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "panser" and "passé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "panser" or "passé"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "panser" and "passé" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "panser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #238,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "panser" and "passé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "panser vs Panzer". 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 #238,366 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.