partnervsPatzerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,366
“partner” frequency rank
#37,126
“Patzer” frequency rank
38492
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature partner Patzer
Definition Personen oder Institutionen, die gemeinsam ein Ziel verfolgen; Partner nicht schwerwiegender Fehler

Where the eye mixes partner and Patzer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
partner
6 ch
Patzer

Why the eye confuses partner with Patzer

A purely visual mix-up. partner ([ˈpartnɛr]) and Patzer ([ˈpat͡sɐ]) 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 38492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

partner is recorded at frequency rank #1,366, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpartnɛr]. Patzer is at rank #37,126, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat͡sɐ].

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 38492, this pair ranks #1,562,534 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of partner vs Patzer

Shared letters: aeprt. Private to "partner": n. Private to "Patzer": z.

"partner" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "Patzer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partneraprtner · parnter · parrtner · partenr · partnerr · partnner · partnre · parttner
  • Patzeraptzer · patezr · pattzer · patzerr · patzre · patzzer · pazter · ppatzer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "partner" and "Patzer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpartnɛr] versus [ˈpat͡sɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "partner" vs "Patzer" - which ranks higher?
"partner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,366 in our German list, against #37,126 for "Patzer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "partner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Patzer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,562,534 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "partner" and "Patzer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Patzer vs platter". 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 #1,562,534 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