Which to use
“past” is an adjective and “psy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,284
- “past” frequency rank
- #6,544
- “psy” frequency rank
- 34828
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | past | psy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ancien. | Psychologue, psychiatre, psychothérapeute ou psychanalyste (la plupart du temps sans que soit faite la distinction entre les uns et les autres). |
Where the eye mixes past and psy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between past and psy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: past is \past\ while psy is \psi\. 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 34828, 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\. psy is at rank #6,544, tagged as anoun, pronounced \psi\.
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 34828, this pair ranks #281,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of past vs psy
Shared letters: ps. Private to "past": at. Private to "psy": y.
"past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "psy" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- past ← apst · passt · pastt · pats · ppast · psat
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "past" and "psy" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "past" vs "psy" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "past" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "psy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "past" and "psy" 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 #281,046 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.