Which to use
“Pein” is a noun and “Peine” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,643
- “Pein” frequency rank
- #22,462
- “Peine” frequency rank
- 70105
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Pein | Peine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Schmerz, Qual | eine Stadt in Niedersachsen, Deutschland |
Where the eye mixes Pein and Peine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Pein runs 4 letters (CVVC) against Peine's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Pein vs Peine
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Pein is [paɪ̯n] while Peine is [ˈpaɪ̯nə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Pein” sits inside “Peine”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Pein is recorded at frequency rank #47,643, classified as anoun, pronounced [paɪ̯n]. Peine is at rank #22,462, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈpaɪ̯nə].
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 70105, this pair ranks #456,306 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Pein vs Peine
Shared letters: einp. Private to "Pein": -. Private to "Peine": -.
"Pein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Peine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Pein" and "Peine" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "Pein" vs "Peine" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Pein" and "Peine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Pein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Peine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #456,306 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Pein" and "Peine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pein vs pig". 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 #456,306 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.