PachtvspackstWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Pacht is a noun, packst is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Pacht” is a noun and “packst” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,792
“Pacht” frequency rank
#26,121
“packst” frequency rank
54913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pacht packst
Definition das vertraglich vereinbarte Überlassen einer Sache zur Nutzung und zum Gebrauch gegen Geld 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs packen

Where the eye mixes Pacht and packst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Pacht runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against packst's 6 (CVCCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Pacht
6 ch
packst

Why the eye confuses Pacht with packst

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Pacht is [paxt] while packst is [pakst]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pacht is recorded at frequency rank #28,792, classified as anoun, pronounced [paxt]. packst is at rank #26,121, tagged as averb, pronounced [pakst].

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 54913, this pair ranks #1,000,082 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pacht vs packst

Shared letters: acpt. Private to "Pacht": h. Private to "packst": ks.

"Pacht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "packst" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pacht ← apcht · paccht · pachht · pachtt · pahct · pcaht · ppacht
  • packst ← apckst · pacckst · packkst · packsst · packstt · packts · pacskt · pakcst

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pacht" and "packst" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Pacht" is a noun and "packst" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Pacht" or "packst" show up more?
"packst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,121 in our German list, against #28,792 for "Pacht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pacht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "packst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,000,082 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pacht" and "packst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pacht vs patt". 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 #1,000,082 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