Which to use
“passées” and “passifs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,057
- “passées” frequency rank
- #23,636
- “passifs” frequency rank
- 28693
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passées | passifs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de passé. | Masculin pluriel de passif. |
Where the eye mixes passées and passifs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. passées (CVCCVVC) and passifs (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: passées vs passifs
A purely visual mix-up. passées (\pa.se\) and passifs (\pa.sif\) 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 28693, 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\. passifs is at rank #23,636, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.sif\.
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 28693, this pair ranks #321,271 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passées vs passifs
Shared letters: aps. Private to "passées": eé. Private to "passifs": fi.
"passées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "passifs" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- passifs ← apssifs · pasifs · pasisfs · passfis · passiffs · passifss · passisf · ppassifs
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "passées" and "passifs" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "passées" vs "passifs" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "passées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passifs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #321,271 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passées" and "passifs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "passifs vs passives". 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 #321,271 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.