missingvspuzzlesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“missing” and “puzzles” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,357
“missing” frequency rank
#49,986
“puzzles” frequency rank
93343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature missing puzzles
Definition Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs miss 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs puzzle

Letter map: missing vs puzzles

Shared letters muted; letters that set missing and puzzles apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

7 ch
missing
7 ch
puzzles

Pair insight - missing / puzzles

missing and puzzles are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 7 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

missing is recorded at frequency rank #43,357, classified as averb, pronounced […]. puzzles is at rank #49,986, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 93343, this pair ranks #23,442 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of missing vs puzzles

Shared letters: s. Private to "missing": gimn. Private to "puzzles": elpuz.

"missing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "puzzles" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • missingimssing · mising · misisng · missign · missingg · missinng · missnig · mißing
  • puzzlesppuzzles · puzles · puzlzes · puzzels · puzzless · puzzlles · puzzlse · pzuzles

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "missing" and "puzzles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 7 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "missing" vs "puzzles" - which ranks higher?
"missing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,357 in our German list, against #49,986 for "puzzles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "missing" vs "puzzles" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "missing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "puzzles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,442 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "missing" and "puzzles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "purpose vs puzzles". 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 #23,442 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list