patervsPatzerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,439
“pater” frequency rank
#37,126
“Patzer” frequency rank
45565
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pater Patzer
Definition der Vater nicht schwerwiegender Fehler

Letter map: pater vs Patzer

Shared letters muted; letters that set pater and Patzer apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

5 ch
pater
6 ch
Patzer

Corpus notes: pater and Patzer

pater and Patzer 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 45565, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pater is recorded at frequency rank #8,439, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. 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 45565, this pair ranks #1,348,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pater vs Patzer

Shared letters: aeprt. Private to "pater": -. Private to "Patzer": z.

"pater" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Patzer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paterapter · paetr · paterr · patre · patter · ppater · ptaer
  • Patzeraptzer · patezr · pattzer · patzerr · patzre · patzzer · pazter · ppatzer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pater" for "Patzer" 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: "pater" vs "Patzer" - which ranks higher?
"pater" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,439 in our German list, against #37,126 for "Patzer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "pater" and "Patzer". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pater" 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 #1,348,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pater" 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 #1,348,734 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