padrevsPfadeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,370
“padre” frequency rank
#26,125
“Pfade” frequency rank
74495
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature padre Pfade
Definition der Vater Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Pfad

Where the eye mixes padre and Pfade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
padre
5 ch
Pfade

Visual trap between padre and Pfade

A purely visual mix-up. padre ([ˈpaːdrɛ]) and Pfade ([ˈp͡faːdə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74495, 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]. Pfade is at rank #26,125, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈp͡faːdə].

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 74495, this pair ranks #331,976 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of padre vs Pfade

Shared letters: adep. Private to "padre": r. Private to "Pfade": f.

"padre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Pfade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • padreapdre · paddre · pader · padrre · parde · pdare · ppadre
  • Pfadefpade · pafde · pfadde · pfaed · pfdae · pffade · ppfade

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "padre" for "Pfade" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaːdrɛ] versus [ˈp͡faːdə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "padre" vs "Pfade" - which ranks higher?
"Pfade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,125 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "padre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pfade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #331,976 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "padre" and "Pfade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Paddel vs padre". 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 #331,976 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