Which to use
“passa” is an intj and “past” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #469
- “passa” frequency rank
- #20,081
- “past” frequency rank
- 20550
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passa | past |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | expressa enxotadura direcionada a cão | passado |
Where the eye mixes passa and past
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses passa with past
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passa is /ˈpa.sɐ/ while past is /pɑːst/. 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 (intj vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passa is recorded at frequency rank #469, classified as anintj, pronounced /ˈpa.sɐ/. past is at rank #20,081, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɑːst/.
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 20550, this pair ranks #49,932 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passa vs past
Shared letters: aps. Private to "passa": -. Private to "past": t.
"passa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passa" for "past" ever safe?
Which is more common, "passa" or "past"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "passa" and "past" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "past" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,932 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passa" and "past" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "past vs pastar". 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 #49,932 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.