pairvspathWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,217
“pair” frequency rank
#30,231
“path” frequency rank
63448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pair path
Definition der Vater Fußweg, Pfad, Weg

Letter map: pair vs path

Shared letters muted; letters that set pair and path apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
pair
4 ch
path

Corpus notes: pair and path

pair and path 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pair is recorded at frequency rank #33,217, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. path is at rank #30,231, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɑːθ].

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 63448, this pair ranks #676,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pair vs path

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pair": ir. Private to "path": ht.

"pair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pairapir · pairr · pari · piar · ppair
  • pathapth · paht · pathh · patth · ppath · ptah

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pair" for "path" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "pair" or "path" show up more?
"path" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,231 in our German list, against #33,217 for "pair". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "pair" and "path".

  • Full dictionary entry for "pair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "path" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #676,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pair" and "path" 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 #676,490 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