Trying to work out if I should learn 度過 or 渡過 or both:

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?wdrst=1&wdqb=duguo

Both words are so rare they almost never appear in movie subtitles. I wonder if one could be a typo of the other (ie a mis-selection when using the chinese IME)

Even though they are rare the word is in one of the childrens books i am reading so I need to learn it (:

This page has a clue however I can't read it (:

http://big5.hwjyw.com/jxyd/cybx/200805/t20080505_16398.shtml

From searching around on baidu, this is the idea i get:

度过 ：used only for passing time, ie. i passed my youth there (我在那里度过了青少年时代)

渡过 ：can be used in two places:
1) passing through space, ie. crossing a river (渡过黄河)
2) passing through a difficult time/experience, ie. 渡过难关

Hope this helps!

Cool, my chinese is not good enough to be able to read much on baidu yet so thats helpful! thanks.

。。。度过 is for passing time，
渡过 is for something ， 难关 also means problem。