PausevsPausenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,984
“Pause” frequency rank
#10,337
“Pausen” frequency rank
12321
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pause Pausen
Definition Unterbrechung einer Tätigkeit Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Pause

Where the eye mixes Pause and Pausen

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

5 ch
Pause
6 ch
Pausen

Look-alike desk: Pause vs Pausen

A purely visual mix-up. Pause ([ˈpaʊ̯zə]) and Pausen ([ˈpaʊ̯zn̩]) 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 extra letter(s) - “Pause” sits inside “Pausen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pause is recorded at frequency rank #1,984, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaʊ̯zə]. Pausen is at rank #10,337, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaʊ̯zn̩].

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 12321, this pair ranks #1,964,866 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Pause vs Pausen

Shared letters: aepsu. Private to "Pause": -. Private to "Pausen": n.

"Pause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Pausen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pauseapuse · pasue · paues · pausse · ppause · puase
  • Pausenapusen · pasuen · pauesn · pausenn · pausne · paussen · ppausen · puasen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pause" and "Pausen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaʊ̯zə] versus [ˈpaʊ̯zn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Pause" or "Pausen"?
"Pause" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,984 in our German list, against #10,337 for "Pausen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pausen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,964,866 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pause" and "Pausen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Paule vs Pausen". 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 #1,964,866 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