Which to use
“passées” is an adjective and “passer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,057
- “passées” frequency rank
- #293
- “passer” frequency rank
- 5350
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passées | passer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de passé. | Aller d’un lieu à un autre, traverser un espace. |
Same sound, different letters: passées vs passer
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. passées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against passer's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - passées and passer
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: passées and passer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pa.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passées is recorded at frequency rank #5,057, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.se\. 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 5350, this pair ranks #429,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passées vs passer
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "passées": é. Private to "passer": r.
"passées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "passer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- passer ← apsser · paser · pasesr · passerr · passre · ppasser · psaser
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "passées" and "passer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "passées" or "passer"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "passées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passées" and "passer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "passées vs pressées". 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 #429,264 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.