PeinevsPointeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#22,462
“Peine” frequency rank
#17,098
“Pointe” frequency rank
39560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Peine Pointe
Definition eine Stadt in Niedersachsen, Deutschland aufschlussreicher, unvorhergesehener Gipfel/Kulminationspunkt einer Erzählung/Entwicklung

Where the eye mixes Peine and Pointe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Peine
6 ch
Pointe

Visual trap between Peine and Pointe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Peine is [ˈpaɪ̯nə] while Pointe is [ˈpo̯ɛ̃ːtə]. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Peine is recorded at frequency rank #22,462, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈpaɪ̯nə]. Pointe is at rank #17,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpo̯ɛ̃ːtə].

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 39560, this pair ranks #1,533,389 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Peine vs Pointe

Shared letters: einp. Private to "Peine": -. Private to "Pointe": ot.

"Peine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Pointe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Peineepine · peien · peinne · penie · piene · ppeine
  • Pointeopinte · pionte · poinet · poinnte · pointte · poitne · ponite · ppointe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Peine" and "Pointe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Peine" is a name and "Pointe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Peine" vs "Pointe" - which ranks higher?
"Pointe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,098 in our German list, against #22,462 for "Peine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Peine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pointe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,533,389 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Peine" and "Pointe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pein vs Peine". 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 #1,533,389 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