PaulevsPaulsConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#47,642
“Paule” frequency rank
#25,260
“Pauls” frequency rank
72902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Paule Pauls
Definition deutschsprachiger Nachname, Familienname Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Paul

Letter map: Paule vs Pauls

Shared letters muted; letters that set Paule and Pauls apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. Paule (CVVCV) and Pauls (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Paule
5 ch
Pauls

Role in the sentence - Paule and Pauls

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Paule is aname and Paulsanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “Paule” becomes s in “Pauls”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Paule is recorded at frequency rank #47,642, classified as aname, pronounced […]. Pauls is at rank #25,260, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paʊ̯ls].

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 72902, this pair ranks #375,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Paule vs Pauls

Shared letters: alpu. Private to "Paule": e. Private to "Pauls": s.

"Paule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Pauls" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Paule ← apule · palue · pauel · paulle · ppaule · puale
  • Pauls ← apuls · palus · paulls · paulss · pausl · ppauls · puals

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Paule" for "Pauls" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Paule" is a name and "Pauls" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Paule" or "Pauls"?
"Pauls" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,260 in our German list, against #47,642 for "Paule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Paule" and "Pauls".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Paule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pauls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #375,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Paule" and "Pauls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Paule 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 #375,296 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