Which to use
“pas” and “phase” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15
- “pas” frequency rank
- #1,783
- “phase” frequency rank
- 1798
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pas | phase |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mouvement que fait une personne ou un animal en mettant un pied devant l’autre pour marcher. | États successifs par lesquels passent certains phénomènes de la vie, de l’histoire. |
Where the eye mixes pas and phase
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pas with phase
A purely visual mix-up. pas (\pa\) and phase (\fɑz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pas is recorded at frequency rank #15, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa\. phase is at rank #1,783, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɑz\.
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 1798, this pair ranks #437,378 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pas vs phase
Shared letters: aps. Private to "pas": -. Private to "phase": eh.
"pas" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "phase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- phase ← hpase · pahse · phaes · phasse · phhase · phsae · pphase
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pas" for "phase" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pas" or "phase" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "phase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,378 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pas" and "phase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pas vs pio". 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 #437,378 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.