per vs pes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“per” is a preposition and “pes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#673
“per” frequency rank: #43,402
“pes” frequency rank: 44075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	per	pes
Definition	mittels	2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs pesen

Where the eye mixes per and pes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

per

3 ch

pes

Why the eye confuses per with pes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: per is [pɛʁ] while pes is [peːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “per” becomes s in “pes”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

per is recorded at frequency rank #673, classified as aprep, pronounced [pɛʁ]. pes is at rank #43,402, tagged as averb, pronounced [peːs].

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 44075, this pair ranks #1,397,829 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of per vs pes

Shared letters: ep. Private to "per": r. Private to "pes": s.

"per" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "per" and "pes" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "per" is a preposition and "pes" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary German text, does "per" or "pes" show up more?

"per" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #673 in our German list, against #43,402 for "pes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "per" and "pes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "per" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "pes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,397,829 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"per" and "pes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pes vs PMS". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,397,829 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.