Which to use
“passée” and “pesée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,439
- “passée” frequency rank
- #33,826
- “pesée” frequency rank
- 36265
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passée | pesée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de passer. Passage | Action de peser. |
Where the eye mixes passée and pesée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. passée runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against pesée's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses passée with pesée
A purely visual mix-up. passée (\pa.se\) and pesée (\pə.ze\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36265, 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\. pesée is at rank #33,826, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pə.ze\.
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 36265, this pair ranks #270,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passée vs pesée
Shared letters: epsé. Private to "passée": a. Private to "pesée": -.
"passée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "pesée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passée" for "pesée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "passée" vs "pesée" - which ranks higher?
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 "passée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pesée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #270,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passée" and "pesée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peep vs pesée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #270,782 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.