Which to use
“passée” and “paumée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,439
- “passée” frequency rank
- #37,471
- “paumée” frequency rank
- 39910
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passée | paumée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de passer. Passage | Engagement conclu par des contractants qui se frappent la paume de la main. |
Where the eye mixes passée and paumée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. passée (CVCCVV) and paumée (CVVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses passée with paumée
A purely visual mix-up. passée (\pa.se\) and paumée (\po.me\) 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 39910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passée is recorded at frequency rank #2,439, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.se\. paumée is at rank #37,471, tagged as anoun, pronounced \po.me\.
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 39910, this pair ranks #244,440 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passée vs paumée
Shared letters: aepé. Private to "passée": s. Private to "paumée": mu.
"passée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "paumée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "passée" and "paumée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "passée" or "paumée"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "passée" and "paumée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paumée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,440 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passée" and "paumée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paumée vs primée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #244,440 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.