pairvsPapierTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,217
“pair” frequency rank
#2,171
“Papier” frequency rank
35388
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pair Papier
Definition der Vater dünnes, in Form von Blättern vorliegendes, organisches Material, das in der Regel aus einem geleimten Brei von Pflanzenfasern hergestellt wird und den verschiedensten Zwecken (Beschreiben, Bedrucken, als Verpackungsmaterial, Baustoff und Ähnliches) dient

Letter map: pair vs Papier

Shared letters muted; letters that set pair and Papier apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

4 ch
pair
6 ch
Papier

Corpus notes: pair and Papier

pair and Papier 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 differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pair is recorded at frequency rank #33,217, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. Papier is at rank #2,171, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈpiːɐ̯].

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 35388, this pair ranks #1,641,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pair vs Papier

Shared letters: aipr. Private to "pair": -. Private to "Papier": e.

"pair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Papier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pairapir · pairr · pari · piar · ppair
  • Papierappier · paiper · papeir · papierr · papire · pappier · ppaier · ppapier

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pair" for "Papier" ever safe?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "pair" vs "Papier" - which ranks higher?
"Papier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,171 in our German list, against #33,217 for "pair". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've compared "pair" and "Papier". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Papier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,641,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pair" and "Papier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pair 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 #1,641,189 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