Which to use
“Alpe” is a noun and “altes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,610
- “Alpe” frequency rank
- #3,501
- “altes” frequency rank
- 39111
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Alpe | altes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bergweide in den Alpen; auch der zugehörige Betrieb | Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs alt |
Where the eye mixes Alpe and altes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Alpe runs 4 letters (VCCV) against altes's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Alpe and altes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Alpe is [ˈalpə] while altes is [ˈaltəs]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Alpe is recorded at frequency rank #35,610, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈalpə]. altes is at rank #3,501, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaltəs].
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 39111, this pair ranks #1,545,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Alpe vs altes
Shared letters: ael. Private to "Alpe": p. Private to "altes": st.
"Alpe" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "altes" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Alpe" for "altes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Alpe" vs "altes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Alpe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "altes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,545,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Alpe" and "altes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Alpe vs Atze". 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 #1,545,784 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.