PacksvsplacesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,297
“Packs” frequency rank
#43,412
“places” frequency rank
77709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Packs places
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Pack Plural des Substantivs place

Where the eye mixes Packs and places

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

5 ch
Packs
6 ch
places

Why the eye confuses Packs with places

A purely visual mix-up. Packs ([paks]) and places ([ˈpleɪsɪz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Packs is recorded at frequency rank #34,297, classified as anoun, pronounced [paks]. places is at rank #43,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpleɪsɪz].

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 77709, this pair ranks #254,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Packs vs places

Shared letters: acps. Private to "Packs": k. Private to "places": el.

"Packs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "places" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Packs ← apcks · paccks · packks · packss · pacsk · pakcs · pcaks · ppacks
  • places ← lpaces · palces · placces · placess · placse · plaecs · plcaes · pllaces

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Packs" and "places" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([paks] versus [ˈpleɪsɪz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Packs" vs "places" - which ranks higher?
"Packs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,297 in our German list, against #43,412 for "places". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Packs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "places" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Packs" and "places" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "places vs plants". 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 #254,723 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