Which to use
“passent” and “pèsent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,438
- “passent” frequency rank
- #14,775
- “pèsent” frequency rank
- 17213
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passent | pèsent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de passer. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de peser. |
Where the eye mixes passent and pèsent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: passent vs pèsent
A purely visual mix-up. passent (\pas\) and pèsent (\pɛz\) 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 17213, 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\. pèsent is at rank #14,775, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛz\.
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 17213, this pair ranks #384,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passent vs pèsent
Shared letters: enpst. Private to "passent": a. Private to "pèsent": è.
"passent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "pèsent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- passent ← apssent · pasent · pasesnt · passennt · passentt · passetn · passnet · ppassent
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "passent" and "pèsent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "passent" or "pèsent"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "passent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pèsent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passent" and "pèsent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pédant vs pèsent". 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 #384,255 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.