pastvspaxWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: past is a adjective, pax is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“past” is an adjective and “pax” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,081
“past” frequency rank
#26,136
“pax” frequency rank
46217
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature past pax
Definition passado indivíduo, cabeça

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set past and pax apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
past
3 ch
pax

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: past is anadjective and paxanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46217, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

past is recorded at frequency rank #20,081, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɑːst/. pax is at rank #26,136, tagged as anoun.

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 46217, this pair ranks #19,125 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of past vs pax

Shared letters: ap. Private to "past": st. Private to "pax": x.

"past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pax" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pastapst · passt · pastt · pats · ppast · psat

Frequency comparison

past#20,081
pax#26,136

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "past" and "pax" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "past" is an adjective and "pax" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "past" or "pax"?
"past" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,081 in our Portuguese list, against #26,136 for "pax". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering past vs pax

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “past”; for a noun, it's “pax”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “past” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list