passent vs passèrent, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“passent” and “passèrent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,438
“passent” frequency rank: #27,171
“passèrent” frequency rank: 29609
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	passent	passèrent
Definition	Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de passer.	Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de passer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set passent and passèrent apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

passent

9 ch

passèrent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. passent (\pas\) and passèrent (\pa.sɛʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passent is recorded at frequency rank #2,438, classified as averb, pronounced \pas\. passèrent is at rank #27,171, tagged as averb, pronounced \pa.sɛʁ\.

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 29609, this pair ranks #315,606 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of passent vs passèrent

Shared letters: aenpst. Private to "passent": -. Private to "passèrent": rè.

"passent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "passèrent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

passent ← apssent · pasent · pasesnt · passennt · passentt · passetn · passnet · ppassent

Frequency comparison

passent#2,438

passèrent#27,171

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "passent" and "passèrent" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\pas\ versus \pa.sɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "passent" or "passèrent"?

"passent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,438 in our French list, against #27,171 for "passèrent". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering passent vs passèrent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “passent” entry
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