periodvsPeriodeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,749
“period” frequency rank
#8,608
“Periode” frequency rank
49357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature period Periode
Definition Periode, Zeitraum Zeitabschnitt, der durch gemeinsame Merkmale geprägt ist

Letter map: period vs Periode

Shared letters muted; letters that set period and Periode apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

6 ch
period
7 ch
Periode

Spelling & dictionary notes on period vs Periode

period and Periode are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “period” sits inside “Periode”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

period is recorded at frequency rank #40,749, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. Periode is at rank #8,608, tagged as anoun, pronounced [peˈʁi̯oːdə].

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 49357, this pair ranks #1,214,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of period vs Periode

Shared letters: deiopr. Private to "period": -. Private to "Periode": -.

"period" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "Periode" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • periodepriod · peirod · perido · periodd · peroid · perriod · pperiod · preiod
  • Periodeepriode · peirode · peridoe · periodde · perioed · peroide · perriode · pperiode

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "period" for "Periode" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “period” sits inside “Periode”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "period" or "Periode" show up more?
"Periode" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,608 in our German list, against #40,749 for "period". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "period" and "Periode".

  • Full dictionary entry for "period" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Periode" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,214,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "period" and "Periode" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "period 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 #1,214,542 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