papevsplaceWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,202
“pape” frequency rank
#11,501
“place” frequency rank
43703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pape place
Definition Papst Platz, Ort, Stelle

Where the eye mixes pape and place

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pape
5 ch
place

Visual trap between pape and place

A purely visual mix-up. pape ([pap]) and place ([pleɪs]) 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 43703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pape is recorded at frequency rank #32,202, classified as anoun, pronounced [pap]. place is at rank #11,501, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pleɪs].

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 43703, this pair ranks #1,409,599 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pape vs place

Shared letters: aep. Private to "pape": -. Private to "place": cl.

"pape" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "place" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • papeappe · paep · ppae
  • placelpace · palce · placce · plaec · plcae · pllace · pplace

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pape" for "place" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pap] versus [pleɪs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pape" or "place"?
"place" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,501 in our German list, against #32,202 for "pape". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "pape" and "place" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "place" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,409,599 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pape" and "place" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pape vs Pau". 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 #1,409,599 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