passagervspasserWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: passager is a adjective, passer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“passager” is an adjective and “passer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,438
“passager” frequency rank
#293
“passer” frequency rank
8731
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passager passer
Definition Qui ne s’arrête pas dans un lieu ; qui ne fait que passer. Aller d’un lieu à un autre, traverser un espace.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set passager and passer apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
passager
6 ch
passer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passager is \pa.sa.ʒe\ while passer is \pa.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passager is recorded at frequency rank #8,438, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.sa.ʒe\. passer is at rank #293, tagged as averb, 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 8731, this pair ranks #419,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of passager vs passer

Shared letters: aeprs. Private to "passager": g. Private to "passer": -.

"passager" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "passer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passagerapssager · pasager · pasasger · passaegr · passagerr · passagger · passagre · passgaer
  • passerapsser · paser · pasesr · passerr · passre · ppasser · psaser

Frequency comparison

passager#8,438
passer#293

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "passager" and "passer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "passager" is an adjective and "passer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "passager" or "passer"?
"passer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #293 in our French list, against #8,438 for "passager". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering passager vs passer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “passager”; for a verb, it's “passer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “passager” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list