PatevsponteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,335
“Pate” frequency rank
#44,853
“ponte” frequency rank
64188
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pate ponte
Definition Ehrenamt in christlichen Kirchen zur Unterstützung der Eltern bei der religiösen Erziehung und Zeuge bei einer Sakramentsspendung die Brücke

Letter map: Pate vs ponte

Shared letters muted; letters that set Pate and ponte apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Pate runs 4 letters (CVCV) against ponte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Pate
5 ch
ponte

Pair insight - Pate / ponte

Pate and ponte 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pate is recorded at frequency rank #19,335, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaːtə]. ponte is at rank #44,853, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 64188, this pair ranks #650,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pate vs ponte

Shared letters: ept. Private to "Pate": a. Private to "ponte": no.

"Pate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ponte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pate ← apte · paet · patte · ppate · ptae
  • ponte ← opnte · pnote · ponet · ponnte · pontte · potne · pponte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Pate" for "ponte" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 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: "Pate" vs "ponte" - which ranks higher?
"Pate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,335 in our German list, against #44,853 for "ponte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Pate" and "ponte".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ponte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #650,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pate" and "ponte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ponte 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 #650,381 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