padre vs par, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“padre” is a noun and “par” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,370
“padre” frequency rank: #10,336
“par” frequency rank: 58706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	padre	par
Definition	der Vater	à, je, zu, durch, kraft, mit, mittelst, vermittels, per; hindurch^(???), quer mitten^(???)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set padre and par apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

padre

3 ch

par

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: padre is [ˈpaːdrɛ] while par is [paʁ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

padre is recorded at frequency rank #48,370, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaːdrɛ]. par is at rank #10,336, tagged as aprep, pronounced [paʁ].

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 58706, this pair ranks #852,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of padre vs par

Shared letters: apr. Private to "padre": de. Private to "par": -.

"padre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "par" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

padre ← apdre · paddre · pader · padrre · parde · pdare · ppadre

Frequency comparison

padre#48,370

par#10,336

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "padre" and "par" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "padre" is a noun and "par" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "padre" or "par"?

"par" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,336 in our German list, against #48,370 for "padre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering padre vs par

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “padre”; for a preposition, it's “par”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “padre” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable