Which to use
“past” is an adjective and “phase” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,284
- “past” frequency rank
- #1,783
- “phase” frequency rank
- 30067
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | past | phase |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ancien. | États successifs par lesquels passent certains phénomènes de la vie, de l’histoire. |
Where the eye mixes past and phase
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between past and phase
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: past is \past\ while phase is \fɑz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30067, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
past is recorded at frequency rank #28,284, classified as anadj, pronounced \past\. phase is at rank #1,783, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɑz\.
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 30067, this pair ranks #312,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of past vs phase
Shared letters: aps. Private to "past": t. Private to "phase": eh.
"past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "phase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "past" for "phase" ever safe?
Which is more common, "past" or "phase"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "past" and "phase" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "past" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "phase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #312,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "past" and "phase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "past vs peso". 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 #312,676 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.