Which to use
“partais” and “passais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,123
- “partais” frequency rank
- #15,456
- “passais” frequency rank
- 41579
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | partais | passais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de partir. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de passer. |
Where the eye mixes partais and passais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. partais and passais follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses partais with passais
A purely visual mix-up. partais (\paʁ.tɛ\) and passais (\pa.sɛ\) 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 41579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
partais is recorded at frequency rank #26,123, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ.tɛ\. passais is at rank #15,456, tagged as averb, pronounced \pa.sɛ\.
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 41579, this pair ranks #232,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of partais vs passais
Shared letters: aips. Private to "partais": rt. Private to "passais": -.
"partais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "passais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "partais" and "passais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "partais" or "passais"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "partais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "partais" and "passais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parias vs partais". 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 #232,079 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.