pathvsPerthWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: path is a noun, Perth is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“path” is a noun and “Perth” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,231
“path” frequency rank
#33,224
“Perth” frequency rank
63455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature path Perth
Definition Fußweg, Pfad, Weg Hauptstadt des australischen Bundesstaates Westaustralien

Where the eye mixes path and Perth

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

4 ch
path
5 ch
Perth

Look-alike desk: path vs Perth

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: path is [pɑːθ] while Perth is [pɝθ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

path is recorded at frequency rank #30,231, classified as anoun, pronounced [pɑːθ]. Perth is at rank #33,224, tagged as aname, pronounced [pɝθ].

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 63455, this pair ranks #676,258 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of path vs Perth

Shared letters: hpt. Private to "path": a. Private to "Perth": er.

"path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Perth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pathapth · paht · pathh · patth · ppath · ptah
  • Pertheprth · perht · perrth · perthh · pertth · petrh · pperth · preth

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "path" for "Perth" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "path" is a noun and "Perth" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "path" or "Perth" show up more?
"path" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,231 in our German list, against #33,224 for "Perth". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "path" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Perth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #676,258 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "path" and "Perth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "path 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 #676,258 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